Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The ECB asked for many things, including the abolition of the promissory notes, the socialisation of the banking debt and full return of the moneys advanced. It got everything it requested. We know that it is relevant that one should ask for what one wants.

Let us consider what the Cabinet is asking for in the motion. It is asking that we should welcome a deal which turns banking debt into sovereign debt. The Cabinet is also asking us to accept the motion while accepting that it never even requested a write-down in our debt. Most people would not accept that deal. This so-called deal is something which Dáil Éireann should not welcome. The Minister referred to recovering our pride. In voting for this motion, we will do things, namely, accept that the Irish people must pay off these debts and that we are passing the burden for paying them to our children and our grandchildren because we do not have the guts to pay them now. A deal which would help recover the pride of Ireland would be one which would lead to the burden for bailing out the eurozone being shared by the members of the eurozone. I call on every Deputy to reject the motion and to instruct the Cabinet to return to the negotiating table and ask for a substantive write-down in our debt on the basis of sharing the burden fairly.

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