Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I do not believe the Taoiseach does not see the huge contradiction between his assertion about restoring our economic sovereignty and his decision to sign up to giving away even more of our economic sovereignty as part of the fiscal compact. This morning, he shared with us a fine letter he wrote to President van Rompuy. The letter states, among other things, that the Taoiseach intended to raise the question of reducing Ireland's debt during the European Council meeting. It is set out in some detail in the letter. The Taoiseach planned to raise the matter and to explain to his colleagues the cost to Ireland of capitalising the banks in a manner that protected European and Irish citizens. The Taoiseach told us at this morning's briefing that he did not raise the matter. I wonder if he forgot to do so. Did he leave the letter behind? Was he tired? Why did he not raise the matter? He has failed to put it on the agenda at any of the umpteen summits that have taken place since he took office. Can he explain to the Dáil the rationale for not raising the most pressing issue that faces the people? It seems we will keep paying huge amounts of money to Anglo Irish Bank and other criminal banks. The Taoiseach did not raise that at the weekend, which is bad enough, even though he had written to them to tell them he would raise it.

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