Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputies Donnelly, Healy and Collins in equal parts. There are some encouraging aspects to what has occurred in recent days in Europe, especially from Ireland's point of view. We learned belatedly that the Taoiseach has access to Angela Merkel and to the Élysée Palace and, therefore, that he has the ear of the most influential people in Europe. That was welcome but it appears he has access to Angela Merkel only in dire situations. She is the most powerful person in Europe.

It concerns me that whatever was achieved in that telephone conversation - we have no idea what this was and we will not be told - it is perfectly apparent that Ireland has now become a victim of internal German politics. If a hard line is being taken by the German nation as a result of the elections coming up there next year - this is what everyone on this side of the House appears to believe - then we must dance to the German agenda for almost another year but that is unacceptable. The Taoiseach ought to rethink his policy if that is the case. There is no guarantee that an election in Germany will let us off and whoever wins there is no guarantee that they will take a softer line afterwards. The Taoiseach and other Members are aware that there are some hardline political forces, especially in Bavaria, and that Angela Merkel is dancing to the Bavarian tune. By proxy, we will be dancing to the Bavarian tune as well.

Whatever the Taoiseach has achieved in the great diplomatic initiative he has taken in the past week we do not know, but at least he should address a dual policy. We are entitled to know more about what happened in that conversation and I will explain why. The communiqué issued was full of words that would make Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland blush. I am unsure of the meaning of "unique" in this context. One could use that word and subsequently say one has said nothing. I am unsure of the meaning of the word "special" in this context as well. Similarly, one could use that word and then claim that one did not say this, that or the other. It is a neutral word. Spain was a special case as were Portugal and Greece and undoubtedly Ireland is a special case, but is Ireland an exception? Will Ireland be picked out and informed that we will be helped in a different way from the others? That is what we need.

As other speakers have noted the Government is coming around to the conclusion that this debt cannot be paid back. If the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, and the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn said as much, presumably the Taoiseach has not admonished them for it.

If the debts cannot be paid back then we will have to ask in another such telephone call whether they will give us a reprieve on legacy debt. That is a yes or no question. Otherwise we must take the course of action often so eloquently proposed from here, that is, simply to say we will park the debt associated with the promissory notes and we will not pay on 31 March. That would give them five months, time enough to consider and focus their minds on the fact that we are not doing it nor will we be honouring what are supposedly our obligations to the bondholders. It could be a two-tier project. We could go one way or the Taoiseach could pursue his thus far fruitless diplomatic efforts, which may bear fruit, while at the same time pursuing a policy of not repaying the bondholders or Anglo Irish Bank's promissory notes.

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