Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the repayment of the bondholders, the logic the Minister has just given is Fianna Fáil economics, which is that we need to borrow and therefore we will pay off all of these debts because if we do not, people will not lend to us. Exactly the opposite is true and my position is very well thought through. Fianna Fáil's position was not thought through and I suggest the Minister's position is not thought through. By paying off everybody's debts, which the new AIB does not owe because it was taken over by somebody else when it was bankrupt, one removes the ability of AIB to borrow further. This is exactly the incorrect logic that ended us up in a troika programme.

On the identity of the bondholders, I appreciate the Minister's acceptance that he could call a creditors meeting and could find out who they are. I believe it is reasonable to tell the people of Ireland who are stumping up this money that we did not know who they were so we called them in. The Minister does not even have to say they will get a writedown. He can say that before they are paid we want to know who they are because we have stepped in to cover the debts. It would be the right thing to do for the people of Ireland as a minimum step to let them know to whom they are paying their money.

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