28. (1) Subject to subsection (3), the Agency and any subsidiary DAC may from time to time borrow money in any currency but where money is borrowed by the Agency or any subsidiary DAC otherwise than from the Exchequer, such borrowing shall be subject to the consent of the Minister, who prior to giving such consent shall consult with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and the consent of the Minister for Finance.

(2) For the purpose of borrowing, the Agency and any subsidiary DAC may create and issue bonds, debentures and other securities, bearing such rate of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as the Agency, or, as the case may be, the subsidiary DAC, thinks fit.

(3) The Agency and, as the case may be, any subsidiary DAC, shall perform the functions conferred on it by this section so that the total amount of principal which the Agency and all subsidiary DACs may at any particular time together be liable to repay on foot of any liability incurred under this section does not exceed €1,250,000,000.

(4) The Agency shall be responsible for the satisfaction of all liabilities it may incur as a result of borrowing under this section.

(5) For the purpose of calculating the total amount of principal which the Agency and subsidiary DACs are at any particular time together liable to repay on foot of any liability incurred under this section, the equivalent in the currency of the State of borrowings in a currency other than the currency of the State shall be calculated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the time the calculation is made.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), where the European Central Bank has published—

(a) a Euro Foreign Exchange Reference Rate, or

(b) a rate expressed by the European Central Bank to replace that rate,

which is applicable to the currency concerned and the time the calculation concerned is made, that rate shall be taken to be the rate of exchange prevailing at that time for that currency.

(7) For the purpose of calculating the total amount of principal which the Agency and the subsidiary DACs are at any particular time together liable to repay on foot of any liability incurred under this section, no account shall be taken of money loaned to the Agency or to a subsidiary DAC in accordance with a direction of the Minister for Finance under section 42B (inserted by section 30) of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2014.