Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I will return to the amendment but it was interesting to listen to what the Minister had to say on the 3% penalty we are paying as part of the bailout money. He said, rightly, the rates are fixed - he was one of the finance Ministers who fixed the rates at the ECOFIN meeting. However, the Minister told the House he did not even ask for a reduction in those rates. He was correct to say there was no negotiation - the rate was fixed. However, he merely accepted that, which is absolutely unbelievable. This was the first time any country had availed of this fund and the first time it was tested. It is hard to think we would not have said, "hang on, we know we agreed in part to this rate but things have changed, Ireland is in deep trouble and we cannot afford these rates". It seems there were no negotiations whatsoever, only a complete acceptance of the rate.

I agree with the previous speaker in-----

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