Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The whole payment is relevant to Ireland because, by making these payments, we are making our situation more difficult. However, the point we have stressed is that we are not seeking a specific write-down. We think this can be managed in a more productive way if we redesign the entire mechanism. Our approach before the election, during the election and on coming into office has been to renegotiate all these matters, making sure we do not take an action that jeopardises our position. Our approach last year to saving €10 billion on the interest rate on the bailout money over the course of the loans made a significant financial difference to the State. That was brought about by agreement and negotiation, and that is the same approach we are taking here. I accept that the approach taken by the previous Administration in putting this financial mechanism in place was difficult and it will make our position more difficult in terms of long-term sustainability, but the bigger issue is the need to obtain external funds for investment here and to buy Irish debt when we ultimately return to the markets. I do not think we can achieve that by saying we will impose a massive write-down on the debt. It would not engender confidence.

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