Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The promissory note is in effect sovereign debt and the State was made responsible for bank debt by a decision made by the previous Government in 2008 which Sinn Féin supported. Sinn Féin's spokesperson in the Dáil that night was Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who described what the Fianna Fáil Government was doing as a courageous response. Deputy Adams's colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, who now has much to say about it, was then a Senator and he stated he supported it because the Bill was in the national interest. He also welcomed it as a decisive move.

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