Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister can tell us later. In the questions and answers session, will he answer all of the questions I put to the teams of international negotiators? He could outline how hard he fought for his country, a "What did you do in the war, Daddy?"

According to Professor Eichengreen, "Ireland will be transferring nearly 10% of its national income as reparations to the bondholders, year after painful year". He uses the word "reparations" because almost every German who is literate in terms of German and European history knows about the Treaty of Versailles and the notion of what reparations do to a country. As described by a conservative German commentator, we will be making reparations to bondholders for ten years. How much time have I remaining?

See this speech in context