In terms of volumes, the National Treasury Management Agency (the Irish Debt Management Office) issued € billion of bonds in 2015. The weighted yield was 1.51% with weighted average maturity of just under 18 years. This compares with a weighted average yield of 2.84% in 2014 and an average maturity of just under 12 years.
The crucial issue that the country has to debate is whether Corporate Governance is compatible with public ownership, which makes the system accountable to political institutions and not to the economic institutions or even regulators. This is a big and fundamental issue which our country has to debate and decide. Is a “via media” possible?