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

I will conclude on this point. The reality is it depends where the starting point is. If the starting point is where Fine Gael and Labour started off in saying we are going to pay back every single penny of this debt and that we just want better conditions, then I understand completely why they would welcome this.

If one's starting point is that of Fianna Fáil - the party that heaped this burden on the Irish taxpayer - then this is obviously a relief of that burden in the immediate term so one would have to welcome it. However, if one starts from the legitimate view that this burden should not be paid by the Irish taxpayer then this cannot be seen as anything but a very bad deal whereby the Labour Party and Fine Gael have cemented us into paying this off over a period of 40 years as a result of the shabby deal they did last week with their ECB partners.

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