Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

This time last year, people were short of only one thing, namely, the date for the general election. They were about to head into a month of debate in which they listened to declarations that it was either Labour's way or Frankfurt's way and listened to the current Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, talk about not paying a cent more. The Government should not lecture Opposition Members about rhetoric because it provided the Government with a large part of the majority it enjoys in this House. This is because people paid attention. Government Members visited the same doorsteps as did Opposition Members and know people were paying attention. They did not talk about local issues on those doorsteps. They expressed their unwillingness to take on board the responsibility for bank debts and certainly for unsecured bondholders.

The point is it is now dead money, as of today, because it has gone and it is disgraceful that it was paid. The bondholders must be the luckiest people ever, as what happened today is the equivalent of someone giving them the winning lotto numbers. It was noted earlier that these bonds were even traded on the secondary markets. While the Government may not wish to know who these people are, I wish to know who they are, both on my own behalf and on behalf of the 40,000 households in my constituency. I wish to know to whom the €700 per household is being paid.

As this Government is supposed to be about job creation, how many jobs could be created with €1.25 billion? If one takes the average industrial wage, one could create 35,000 jobs for one year with €1.25 billion. There would be wealth generation, consumer spending, increased Government revenue and a reduction in social welfare payments. This is the kind of opportunity that has been lost by not retaining that money in this economy. As for the work that could be done, the €1.25 billion also could be used to deal with the ageing water mains infrastructure, thereby saving money and creating jobs. It would provide enough money to construct offshore wind energy that could then be exported. It could be used to retrofit homes, which again would create jobs and save money. This would not be money going down the drain and would not be expenditure without return. The money also could dramatically enhance the rail network or would allow the construction of two hospitals of the size of the proposed national children's hospital. This is the kind of project that could be carried out with that kind of money.

The promissory note, which is due to be paid on 31 March, is absolutely unsupportable. Gene Kerrigan wrote an article recently in which he discussed who would pay this debt. He noted the 60,000 children who were born in 2002 will be 21 in 2023 and will be paying the interest rate and residuals arising therefrom. Similarly, the 74,000 children who were born last year will be paying it in 2031. What is being done in respect of the promissory note has a consequence way beyond Ireland's reputation with the troika. In this context, the Technical Group met representatives of the troika last week and I listened to their press conference, at which they stated they read the newspapers and that they pay attention to what people say. They told us there had to be buy-in and that they thought there was buy-in to this programme in Ireland as, otherwise, they would see resistance.

The point is that resistance in Greece brought a reduction in Ireland's interest rate. Resistance paid off, while this passive slapping of people's backs will not deliver for Ireland. It will not be a success if Ireland ends up getting a small interest rate reduction on these promissory notes. There must be either an almost complete write-down on them or, as was suggested last night, or an extension of their terms to enable inflation to take care of the problem. Two things are required to control people, namely, fear and insecurity and this is what the Government is dishing out in abundance. It is making a population passive, which I believe to be highly dangerous in the longer term, because the people will boil over at some point. Moreover, I believe they are not too far from so doing.

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