Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

We can see the National Treasury Management Agency's prediction for the debt to GDP figure to reach 117.5% this year and 120.3% next year. One projection I have seen for the interest payments on that debt next year will be €9 billion. How on earth can anybody describe that as sustainable? Of course, the interest payments can continue but that would be at the cost of impoverishing the Irish people and diverting resources that should be going into desperately needed public investment, for example, into paying the national debt. How on earth does anybody believe that the sharks in the financial markets will entertain this State for major lending in a year or two when all the economic indicators are downwards?

How does the Minister square these circles?