Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the National Treasury Management Agency for attending before the committee. As we speak, the headlines are already appearing that the NTMA is saying we are going back to the bond markets. That is symptomatic of the superficiality of much of the media coverage of the debt crisis. It is assumed that it is a great step and that it should be our high aspiration and a cause for celebration that we would get back to the private debt markets. In an attempt to burst the bubble, could I put it to Mr. Corrigan that it is not a wonderful aspiration for the State? It would be far better if we did not have to borrow to the great extent to which we do. The reason we have difficulty in borrowing is precisely because of the level of debt we have. In other words, the bigger the debt, the more difficult it is to convince anyone to buy it.

The problem is that we have this enormous debt and I do not believe anybody has any reason to slap themselves on the back about the way we are managing that because as far as I can see we are managing a debt that is not ours and are putting ourselves into an unsustainable situation where we are prey to the whim of these financial markets. That is the way I see it but it is not just me. The European Union Commission stated that if growth does not materialise and unemployment continues to stay high our debt is likely to be unsustainable. Is there not a better option from the point of view of managing our debt, namely, to repudiate the debt and say it is not our debt and we are not paying it?

Mr. Corrigan pointed to the fact that the key balance is the primary balance. Could he confirm that our primary balance position is not disastrous? If we exclude the debt interest we will pay back next year, which is €9.1 billion, our primary balance is manageable but our problem is that we are borrowing to pay back the lenders. That is the problem we must deal with and we are sinking ourselves in a hole by trying to continue to pay back this unsustainable debt.