Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share it and hate every bit of it. I wish that none of the debt had anything to do with us. Intelligent Members of the Opposition, which most of them are, will recognise that when the previous Government gave the guarantee, it made it our sovereign debt. As much as we may dislike it, it became Irish debt. I hate it as much as those who voted for me and whom I represent in here, but I also deal in practicalities. The problem is that at the moment it is this country's debt, so what will we do about it? We could renege and not pay it, but that would not do good for our reputation abroad. The Government has tried to repair that reputation over the past two years and it is slowly getting there. The proof is that we can see investment coming into the country. We are winning jobs and money back into the country. I accept it is happening at a slow pace and we would all like it to be quicker but it is getting there. It is going in the right direction compared with what it was. That is happening because people like to invest in a stable, sound country.

We are now regarded as stable and sound. If we really want to make the country unstable again we will see what happens to investments. As historical research proves, if one reneges on debt, there is no doubt that it will take about four years before one can win back investment and people's confidence. The public cannot wait another four years to win back investment and jobs. We need them now.

The Government is trying to make debt more sustainable in the short term. Hopefully tonight we might hear more news about the negotiations over the next couple of weeks. The aim of these talks is to make the promissory note more sustainable. We would love to wish it away but that will not happen overnight. We first have to make it sustainable, thus managing the interest a little bit better and easing the cashflow. That is the start. In the years ahead we will continue negotiations about what happens to the €30 billion plus that is still there. We will work on that but it could take at least two or three years to get the initial deal on this. Hopefully we will hear something in this regard. We must get the interest rate down and extend the repayments as long as possible. Inflation and growth will deal with a lot of that but we can continue dealing afterwards. Firstly, however, we must make the debt sustainable so that we can manage it. We cannot afford to continue paying out €3 billion plus every March plus €1.8 billion in interest. That is what the Government is trying to avoid and I believe it will be successful.

One must accept that these deals are never done in a week, a month or a year. It takes time. Deputy Stanley said earlier that the public are growing tired. They are growing tired but they still expect us to do the right deal and get the best we can, even if it takes a little bit longer to get that.

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