However, the timeframe for implementation of the ESM and uncertainty about the amount of banking-related public debt that would be eligible, were the ESM to be applied retrospectively, are unclear. For Ireland, greater certainty on this issue could provide support for successfully exiting the programme in 2013. The announcement also included a reference to examining the situation of the Irish financial sector.
This has raised expectations of a possible reprofiling of the Promissory Notes, on which the Government makes an annual payment of € billion, or 2 per cent of GDP. Agreement that results in a more favourable time profile of payments would improve the  14  See “Rettung für den Musterknaben”, Der Spiegel, January 7, 2013, p. 28.