Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his indulgence and apologise for being late.

At the beginning of our discussions on the promissory note I want to make it clear, as I have done consistently, that Sinn Féin wishes the Minister and the Government well in their endeavours with the troika to negotiate a deal on the promissory note. Having said that, however, everything I have heard from the Minister to date and, indeed, what he has reiterated today leads me to believe that he is selling the country short. He is focusing on extending maturity, the interest and the source of the funding, which basically means that the taxpayer will continue to pay the full capital of this bad, toxic Anglo debt. Of course, what he has outlined may have benefits in the short to medium term to our current budgetary position and to the taxpayer, which would be welcome. We will judge that when we see the detail, but on the basis of what the Minister has said, even in the best case scenario the taxpayer will remain liable for every single last red cent of the capital of the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note. That deal was not created by the taxpayer, and in the view of Sinn Féin, it should not be paid by the taxpayer.

Sinn Féin has been saying this for a very long time and the Minister and his Government has ridiculed us for doing so. I draw the Minister's attention to an article, published in The Irish Times yesterday, by a former deputy director in the IMF's research department, Ashoka Mody. In it, he describes the Government's determination to make the taxpayer pay the debts of the banks as acquiescing to the "prevailing dogma", a dogma that he argues needs to be revisited. He argues that the default option on debts such as Anglo's could be economically efficient, fair and politically sensible. That is the view of Sinn Féin and is also the view of the deputy director in the IMF's research department. The consensus is changing so why does the Minister stubbornly adhere to the Government position that the taxpayer will have to pay every single last red cent of the capital of the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note?

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