Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was done as an election gimmick. I believe Deputy Mattie McGrath was with Fianna Fáil when it was put through. Subsequently he was not.

This is about bringing us out of the bailout programme in a twofold manner, by reducing the interest rate and the amount of interest we pay from the current budget each year, which will have a benefit in real people's lives, and rescheduling the repayments. A key reason for this is we are now in the rundown to exiting the bailout, and to ease the impact of this on the ordinary person, anyone giving money to Ireland must be able to see they will be repaid first and that repayment of the promissory note will be put down for a good number of years.

The proposal put forward is about default and those who tabled it should look into their hearts. Anyone in business would say the risks are way too high. I do not agree with it because countries should pay their way. I know the background to the promissory note. We want a proper negotiated settlement dealing with the interest rate and repayment schedule which will have an effect on real people's lives. It is important we get our sovereignty back and this is about coming out of the programme in an easier rather than a more difficult fashion.

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