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

Last year, we had to endure Ministers telling us there was a seismic shift and that the State had secured a great deal in Europe on the separation of sovereign debt from private, toxic banking debt. Today, they come before the Chamber and tell us that they will replace the promissory note with a sovereign bond for €28 billion with no write-down whatsoever. So much for the separation of toxic banking debt and sovereign debt. The question most people want to answered is how it will affect them. People are angry that they have been lamped and asked by the previous Administration to pay the toxic debt of Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide. What they expected in the mandate they gave the parties which now form the Government was to get a deal which would mean they would not have to pay the debt.

The Taoiseach has come to the Chamber today to say to every single man, woman and child in the State that they will pay back every single penny of the toxic Anglo Irish Bank debt. He said it will be done by this generation and future generations of taxpayers. We are supposed to jump with joy at the fact that it is a long-term bond, a 40-year bond with average maturities of 34 years. This week my youngest son began to crawl. He was not even born at the time the promissory note was issued by Deputy Martin and his Cabinet colleagues, yet when he will be 40 years of age the State will still be paying back the toxic debts of Anglo Irish Bank. The Taoiseach said this is a fair deal. He said it is about easing the burden on taxpayers. What about those children who had no hand, act or part to play and who did not benefit from the boom? Does the Taoiseach consider it is fair for them to be lamped with this burden?

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