Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wonder if the House or the Government understands the seriousness of this statement last night and why it was issued. It seems that the three most powerful economic countries in Europe, which did not have to issue this statement, quite simply decided to send a message to Ireland and Spain that past debt - the Taoiseach appears to be talking about the future - of the type mentioned will not be eligible for any type of rescue. That means that the seismic shift, to which the Taoiseach referred and to which Ministers referred in June last, is now in reverse gear and the Government was sold a pup by Europe and passed it on to the Irish people. There is no other way of interpreting what happened and there is no point in pretending that this is good news. This is a disaster for the attempts to get out of debt, and particularly to rescue the pillar banks.

I ask the Taoiseach to answer this question because I think it is significant. I do not know the answer to this question and I am not asking it in a loaded way. Did he get knowledge of this statement in advance? Did someone from Berlin, Helsinki or The Hague ring him up or contact him stating that they were going to issue this statement which puts an end to his hopes-----

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