Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked at least a dozen questions. The underlying position is that Sinn Féin's political strategy is to build a political movement based on the hope that the Government will fail, that the economy will decline into a worse state than it was in when we inherited it and that the people will suddenly turn to Sinn Féin to rescue them from their misery. All of the questions posed by those in Sinn Féin are geared towards positioning themselves so that any deal, good, bad or indifferent - I am of the view that we will obtain a good deal - can be rejected by them. Sinn Féin's alternative position is default. I have informed the Deputy on several occasions that the Irish Government is not going to default. If he wants to know why that is the case, then he should consider what happened in Argentina just last week and what has previously occurred since it defaulted on two occasions. If he does so, he will discover why default is not an option. While it may be Sinn Féin policy, we are not going to default.

We are negotiating a deal and there is no reluctance to discuss that deal in the House. Just two weeks ago I dealt with a series of questions on this matter in the House, one of which was tabled by the Deputy. In reply to a question from Deputy Sean Fleming, who was substituting for Deputy Michael McGrath, I stated that I believed a deal was likely. I have never varied my position by saying that the end date is 31 March. I have never given any date but that one. We will have a deal before this year's payment on the promissory note is due. We are negotiating against the date to which I refer. I am of the view that a satisfactory arrangement will be arrived at. If that does not prove to be the case, the Deputy can come into the Chamber and take a couple of shots at me. The negotiations are ongoing. The normal course of negotiations is that the easy issues are dealt with early on and the difficult matters are agreed at the end. We have been systematically obtaining agreement on issues and we will continue to do so until a complete deal is arrived at.

The Deputy spoke about eminent economists making predictions. I do not believe such economists have any particular inside knowledge of what is happening. It is a matter of opinion. Many eminent economists have been offering their opinions for the past two years and most of them have been wrong in their predictions. When I refer to eminent economists, I am not referring to those who commented this week or last week. It must be noted that many individual economic predictions made since the Government came to office have been wrong. We hope we can obtain a deal and we will continue to negotiate. We would love if we had the support of all parties in the House in respect of what we are doing, which is in the national interest. However, we know we do not have the support of the Deputy's party.

See this speech in context