Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To succeed, however, we must negotiate in a professional, balanced and mature manner - no messing, fooling, erratic behaviour or acting in toddler's mode. Thankfully, common sense has guided our negotiations throughout. The Minister has demonstrated prudent judgment. Make no mistake about it - slow and steady progress produces results. Slow and steady wins the race.

In all conscience, to table this motion and expect responsible politicians to pass it would have been madness. The markets would have interpreted it as an intention to default. This motion would have had a detrimental effect on our country. This ill-advised motion would have jeopardised all the work done by this Government to restore Ireland's name among foreign direct investors and the financial markets. It would have jeopardised jobs.

If we had defaulted, as the ill-advised Opposition wished, we would have no roadmap, plan or vision. The Opposition should remember that it can only throw its toys out of the pram once. The reality then is that it has nothing to play with. It is time to back off, stop the nonsense and leave the tough negotiations to the Taoiseach of our country, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan. We can rely on them to do the job. I would advise the Opposition to leave it to the premier team of this Government, as minors have a lot to learn.

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