Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I have not said whether it will be paid in March. I have given no commitments in that regard.

Deputy Donohoe raised an important issue. Irrespective of the promissory note, the debt mountain facing this country is a considerable issue. We owe slightly more than €180 billion, €140 billion of which relates to the difference between income and expenditure and €40 billion of which relates to banking. If that was pulled tomorrow, we know the impact of the cuts on our people that would follow. This is the situation which faces the Government on a daily basis. It is responsible for ensuring the transition of managing the debt and looking for a fairer, restructured redesign on the promissory note which would allow us to grow the economy.

I agree with Deputy McGrath's remarks in regard to the new ESM. One of the issues that arose for discussion on Monday night, in respect of which I believe we will get agreement at the Council meeting on 1 March, is the new lending capacity. Currently, the firewall stands at €500 billion. People are talking about an increase of more than €250 billion, which would bring the total to €750 billion. I do not suggest that will be the outcome between now and March. However, as pointed out by Deputy McGrath, that would significantly advance our position.

As I stated earlier, the markets are a little like the media in that they hunt in packs. As long as the spotlight remains on Ireland investors will run away. That is the reality. We are a small open trading economy which does not have the colossal natural resources of others to determine whether we get funds into the country. The crucial piece of the jigsaw is to get money into the Irish banks and to cut our umbilical cord with the ECB. That is the crucial task we face. Slowly but surely we are getting there. In the final quarter of last year funds came back into the Irish banking sector. Also, the exposure of Ireland to the ECB has decreased in recent quarters. That is the type of deliberate process of confidence that this country needs to maintain.

I did not make any disparaging comments about the Greek people. I simply said-----

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