Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope that does not phase the Tánaiste in the time ahead. I am sorry that the Taoiseach had to leave. That is not a complaint - I simply wanted to make a point to him. When he was asked if he thought our debt was sustainable, he said that it was unfair. I have been arguing, as has my party, that the Government has a very strong hand to play here. In our weakness, we have strength. The strongest hand we have to play is that we cannot afford this. We cannot afford to pay because the social consequences, as the leader of the Labour Party should know, that citizens have to bear are simply too much. Why on earth should we put our people back decades in their social advancement and increase their economic distress just to pay off the greed caused by private banks, corrupt politicians and golden circles?

Why should we do that? We are able to argue from a strong and truthful position. In the absence of the Taoiseach, and mindful of what the Minister for Education and Skills said, I ask the Tánaiste if he thinks this debt is affordable. Is it preferable to go through these interrogations and proceedings until a more senior Minister says it is not tenable?

I acknowledge the negotiations are ongoing and that there will be ups and downs and twists and turns but how can it be claimed that the legacy debt will be sorted out by October when the word "legacy" was not even mentioned in the June statement? I invite the Tánaiste to take this opportunity to acknowledge that private banking debt is not affordable and that the legacy debt is unlikely to be sorted out by the end of October.

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