Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

It is. I am not convinced the Minister made the demand in the first instance because he has contradicted himself a number of times in the past couple of minutes.

I reiterate the ECB does not want us to default on senior bondholders as many of the major banks in Europe would be liable for those bonds because of their reckless lending to the Irish banks. It is important that information is accurate. I cannot be sure as I have not been in the House for long but I have not heard any Deputy argue we should pull out of the euro. That would be a very damaging position for this country to take. The idea of reconstructing a new currency and trying to sell it, with the probability of defaulting straightaway, would be impossible. I do not know who is making such charges in the Houses. It is an important that we do not send out a signal that such positions are dominant in this House. In all the debates I have never heard those points being made.

I return to the point and will conclude in brief. As Deputy Burton made very clear in her opening remarks, a new model is needed. None of us is infallible on these issues. Nobody claims to know the perfect ways to get out of these problems or to have the perfect solutions for dealing with them. We come from a point of honesty and from our own political and ideological perspectives and we do what we believe is best. To assist us in that process we need as much information as possible. Take the Finance Bill, for example. This Bill is very difficult to deal with, particularly when one does not have the experience or expertise or perhaps academic qualifications. However, there is information.

In the development of the Finance Bill and the budget in December 2007, it is obvious that each of these measures was looked at by the Department of Finance. Not only did it present the positive aspects of all these measures, as the Minister rightly argues in this Chamber, but I presume it also looked at the possible negative aspects of some of them. In such a case a political judgment must then be made by the Minister for Finance, as he is entitled to so do. In all circumstances we have to make political judgments because there is no single solution or answer for any of these questions.

However, this point is important if we are to have as accurate a political debate as possible. I recall the Minister's remarks to Deputy O'Shea about having measured comment on such issues. If we had that type of information or the analysis which is available to the Minister, we could dispute it if we wish but it would allow for a more rounded, civilised and accurate debate. If we had had such an analysis a number of years ago we would not be in our current position because we would have had a more in-depth and genuine debate on these matters.

I hope with the next Finance Bill we will see that type of focus and presentation being put forward.

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