The debt servicing costs - the annual interest payment - on such a monster debt are considerable, amounting to billions each year and that’s before you pay down the actual debt itself. Because we’re living through a period of ultra-low interest rates, Ireland’s debt servicing costs are considerably lower than what they might have been in a different era. According to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)- the State’s debt management agency - they will be €5 billion this year, falling to to € 4.5 billion in 2020. This has allowed the NTMA put the State’s debt funding on a more even keel, eliminating so-called refinancing debt “chimneys” in 2018, 2019 and 2020 at the best possible time. This implies trade-offs between spending on badly needed social infrastructure like housing and health and lowering the debt.

Source: The Irish Times July 02, 2019 06:45 UTC