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

I am glad this topic was selected. Reuters Canada broke the story of the promissory note last week, followed by Reuters London and a Bloomberg interview that quoted three different sources from the meeting of the ECB last week, but this is the first time we have had an opportunity to speak about the restructuring of the promissory note and the fallout that occurred as a result of that meeting. In the past 24 hours three prominent economists have spoken on our radio and television stations, telling us it is unlikely that the Government will secure a deal on the promissory note. Although all of us in this House hope their words will be proven incorrect it seems the Minister's proposal is running into difficult waters.

It is almost a year and a half since we heard about the infamous technical paper that was to be agreed between the Government and the ECB on restructuring the promissory note. We were told to be patient, that work was ongoing with the troika, that officials were directly engaging, that the proposal was not an Irish one but had the direct involvement of the ECB. Everything seemed to be going grand. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, spoke on "The Week in Politics". I shared the studio with him that evening when he stated categorically that the promissory note would not be paid this March. After a year and a half of these so-called discussions we heard the first formal proposal was to be put by the Governor of the Central Bank to the ECB governing council. Then we learned that the proposal had either been rejected or was about to be rejected. In fairness, the governor, Professor Honohan, had the wisdom to withdraw it before it was formally rejected.

How did we - or the Government - get it so wrong? How come the mood music with the ECB governing council was wrong? How was it that this preferred option was rejected? How come we made a proposal in the first instance when we were not sure it would succeed at that meeting, given this was not something that happened only last month or last week but has been ongoing for a year and a half? Will the Minister explain to me how we misinterpreted the position of the ECB on this issue?

The Minister will be well aware that the next governing council meeting of the ECB will take place a week from tomorrow. Will the governor, Professor Honohan, have a proposal to put before the council at that meeting? Is the Minister satisfied there is an option to put before the council? He knows well my position and that of my party; it is also the position of many people who do not want to pay taxes to fill the black hole of Anglo Irish Bank. We want to see a write-down of the promissory note, not an extension of duration. Will the Minister explain, in black and white terms, what this will mean to me and my family and to next year's budget? That is how ordinary people judge this. Is it not the case that if we do not pay the promissory note next year some €1.8 billion of adjustments will not be required in order to meet the troika targets? The Minister might explain the target he would like to have, the type of deal. There has been much talk about a deal but one person's good deal could be another's bad deal. Many people will judge this by the effect it will have on the budget; others will judge it in more detail because it will be complex. Perhaps the Minister might explain what the target is in terms of the impact he would like to achieve on next year's budget.

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