Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins PhotosThe Department of Finance was worried at the implications of comments by Tánaiste Simon Harris made in August about an EU initiative on defence spending. For the Department of Public Expenditure this represented a significant change in policy. “Having previously engaged with [Department of] Finance and [Department of] Defence on the Safe instrument, our understanding is Safe loans do not function any differently from regular borrowing on the markets,” the Department of Public Expenditure said. It told the Department of Defence it was not its understanding that an expression of interest would be submitted. “We met the Minister [for Finance Paschal Donohoe] and he concluded we should not apply for the Safe loans,” the Department of Finance said.
