Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

-----or wherever I travelled in the interest of Irish unity and the freedom of our people, those who invited me picked up the tab. The Irish taxpayer did not pick up the tab. The Irish taxpayer is paying the Taoiseach to go to Europe and he avoided the question. It is a simple and straightforward matter. We are paying €10 billion in interest to our European partners but we cannot afford it.

The Government took €700 million out of health services and put approximately the same amount into the unguaranteed bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank. Riddle me this: why is the Government taking money out of essential health services and putting it into banks when it is not obliged to do so? It was a choice because they were not guaranteed. The Taoiseach cannot blame anybody else. Of course, these guys on the benches beside me made the mess. They are not going to a European summit but the Taoiseach is.

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