Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)

I would like the Minister of State to give as clear an answer as possible on the issue of a write-down. There have been many mixed messages sent and different things have been said by different people. Is the Government actively looking for a write-down on any portion of the debt, including the bank debt that has become sovereign debt, or is it looking for a restructuring that would essentially lower the debt burden?

I have listened to German colleagues, the German media and even German parliamentarians who were at the finance committee yesterday. They all talk a lot about the bailout and the German money which has been made available, thankfully, to this country to help us as part of the troika funding. However, I never ever hear them recognise the fact that the net flow of money is ultimately out of the country. We have given a vast amount of money - money that is not coming back - to bondholders, some of which are German and French and so on. Based on the Minister of State's own experience in the negotiations, is that a predominant position? Is there a lack of understanding of the fact that in terms of net cash flow, per capita we are bailing out their banking systems to a much greater extent than they are bailing out ours. Is that understood? If not, is there anything the Government can do and should be doing about it?

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