Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The danger is that Ireland will become a victim in German internal politics, however. We have seen several examples of that in the changes made to policies and statements in recent days. The Taoiseach alone is in a unique position as he was on the telephone call to Angela Merkel on Sunday. He can tell us whether he asked her if there was any question of writing off legacy debt and, if so, what was her answer to that particular question. This is the nub of the problem. It is a very serious life and death matter for the nation. To answer Deputy Adams’s earlier question, it was the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, who yesterday in addressing the issue of bank relief said if we do not get some relief in time we will not be sustainable as an independent state. That is pretty straightforward. It means if we do not get a write-off of the debt, we will perish economically.

With genuine concern I want to make the following constructive suggestion. The Taoiseach and his other Ministers should go ahead with their diplomatic efforts to get relief on the debt, which has so far proved particularly unfruitful. However, parallel to this, the Taoiseach should make another telephone call to Angela Merkel to tell her that behind this velvet glove, there is an iron fist. As Ireland’s debt is unsustainable, as admitted by one of the Taoiseach’s Ministers, the Taoiseach has only two options. The first is forgiveness by the lenders; the second, unilateral decisions by the borrowers. The Taoiseach must insist on parking and postponing the payment of the €3 billion on the Anglo Irish promissory notes due in March if no deal is agreed before then.

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