Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Against a background of much hyperbole about the visit of Prime Minister Cameron and the Queen solidifying a new relationship between Ireland and Britain - now best friends forever - the Taoiseach said he and the Prime Minister discussed the IMF-EU deal. Presumably, the Taoiseach told him about the difficulties and about the fact he was taking money from disabled people to pay off the bankers' debts and the interest, but he did not ask his new best friend forever to deal with the one issue he has competence over, namely, the level of interest on the loan from the British Government to the Irish Government, a loan that was of course made for the economic interest of the British establishment, not for the love of the Irish people. Nor did the Taoiseach ask the British Prime Minister to reduce this punitive level of interest-----

See this speech in context