Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Níor thug an Taoiseach freagra ar na ceisteanna a chuir mé air. Seo na focail a dúirt sé. These are his words. I did not make them up. These are what people voted for. The Taoiseach talked about the five point plan. It strikes me that we are engaged in a five point U-turn. Here are other words people voted for:

Fine Gael in Government will force certain bondholders to share in the cost of recapitalising troubled financial institutions. This will be done unilaterally for most junior bondholders. It could be extended as part of a Euope-wide framework for senior debt, focusing on insolvent institutions like Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide that have no importance.

The Government gave €3 billion of the people's money to those two institutions. There needs to be some clarity so people can understand what the Government is doing and have confidence in it. The Taoiseach's party said not a red cent would be committed to the banks unless they imposed losses on their bondholders, yet last week the Government poured another €24 billion of the people's money into those banks. What price manifestos, election promises or election commitments? A very high price indeed, especially for people who are in economic distress at this time. The manifesto of the Labour Party, the other party in government, has been shredded. The Irish taxpayers are paying, not just for the Government's U-turns, but also for the private greed of bankers.

There is no sense of our coming out of this. I am, by nature, an optimist and I believe we can find a way out of our difficulty. This party has put forward suggestions for how to do that, but not by throwing good money after bad.

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