Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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In the Minister's opinion is this shift largely to do with what happened in Cyprus and the intervention of the Cypriot people, where the original plan to deal with the bank financial crisis there was quite different, namely, to raid people's savings of under €100,000? However, as a result of a popular intervention, that policy was changed and bondholders, rightly, came into the firing line. That policy is now being applied generally as a result of events in Cyprus. If that is the case, is there not a case for us to say that if we have accepted that senior bondholders should take a hit and if that is to be the new resolution regime which will be applied across Europe, we have a case? People may take the view about the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. I am less interested in the ESM than us having a moral case on the back of what has happened in Cyprus and this new proposed regime to say that we want some write-down. Can we not ask for some write-down, given that senior bondholders did not take the hit in the Irish situation but Europe has now rectified that mistake?