Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

That is not correct. The Deputy is suggesting that the EU will make the money available at a lesser rate than the IMF, which itself is the cheapest international provider of credit. That is something ECOFIN is not prepared to do. ECOFIN was prepared to make sure it would provide additional credit to this country at rates similar to what was available from the IMF, which is the established international organisation to provide international credit to sovereign countries for this purpose. That is the situation.

If we were to go to the international market for that money we would be paying a far higher rate than is available from the EFSM and the IMF. Those are the facts. Deputy Gilmore's suggestion that a lower rate was available, despite the fact that ECOFIN made this decision, is not only unrealistic but also unachievable.

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