Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Seán Crowe.

Last June, the Taoiseach returned to the Dáil and announced a “seismic shift” and “a game changer” which would separate bank debt from sovereign debt. Last week, in a total contradiction, the Government turned €28 billion of that bad bank debt into a sovereign debt, which the citizens of this State will be repaying for the next 40 years. The Irish people have taken on 43% of the total bank related debt that has been inflicted on taxpayers across Europe. While I accept that it was Fianna Fáil which placed a huge burden of bank debt on the shoulders of Irish taxpayers in the first instance, the reality is that after two years in government, Fine Gael and the Labour Party have refused to lift this debt burden and have, in fact, added to it. The Government refused to seek a write down of the promissory notes and instead, supported by Fianna Fáil in a cosy little consensus, has simply drawn out the period over which this unfair debt will be paid.

The other part of our bank debt crisis relates to the €30 billion which has gone into the State’s other covered institutions - Bank of Ireland, AIB and Irish Life & Permanent. We have heard very little since the Taoiseach's pronouncements last June about whether the ESM will be used to recapitalise banks retrospectively. Is the Government still committed to securing at European level the retrospective recapitalisation of Irish banks to deal with legacy debt through the ESM, and can the Taoiseach give us an update on the current position with that process?

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