The National Solidarity Bond, which was announced by the Minister in his Budget Speech 2010, is available to purchase in all Post Offices. The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) announced that the Bond will provide investors with a return of 1% gross per annum for 10 years, which will be subject to DIRT at 25%, along with a 40% tax free bonus in year 10. This equates to an effective tax rate of 5% at maturity, giving a net return on investment of 47.5%.

The National Solidarity Bond will be directly invested with the Irish Government for 10 years under the management of the NTMA. The minimum investment is €500 and the maximum is €250,000 per individual investor.

According to published information, investors can take their money back at any time without penalty. However, the longer the money is invested the greater the return. Those who invest for 5 or 7 years can earn 15% or 29% gross respectively at the end of those years.

The Minister for Finance designated the National Solidarity Bond to be “specified deposits” as defined in section 256 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 for the purposes of Part 8, Chapter 4 of that Act. A copy of the Statutory Instrument - S.I. No. 213 of 2010 is available from the Dept of Finance website.

Further details on the National Solidarity Bond are available from the website www.StateSavings.ie.