Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We do not often see exuberant celebration and delight in the halls of Leinster House. We seem to think we are far too sophisticated for that sort of display. Perhaps we regard it as a little naff. I have no hesitation in declaring my unashamed delight about last week's deal. When the Taoiseach read the terms of what had been agreed, it brought a sense of relief to this side of the House. In fairness, I think that was shared on the Fianna Fáil benches. It was almost as if we were able to begin to breathe a little more easily, having been holding our breath since that fateful day in November 2010 when the IMF arrived here. The day we lost our financial independence was the saddest day this country had seen since Independence. We had lost our sovereignty after less than 90 years of independence. Until last week, it did not look as though we were going to get it back any time soon, and certainly not in 2014. Now there is a chance that we will. Perhaps the small and positive signs of recovery that are evident at present will grow into something that puts people back to work and offers our children the prospect of a future at home.

I would like to take my hat off to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, the regulator and the staff of the Central Bank and the Department of Finance for securing this deal. I salute them for the sheer ingenuity of the arcane and complex device that is being used to get rid of the promissory notes, which means we are staying on the right side of what might be regarded as quantitative easing. I applaud them for keeping their heads in recent months when they faced a barrage of constant criticism from those who suggested the Government was doing nothing or, if it was doing something, was doing the wrong thing. I congratulate the Government on the slow but incremental progress it made by engaging in targeted lobbying and persuasion and by building a consensus in Europe around the validity of our case.

Not everybody appreciates these efforts as much as I do. Fintan O'Toole accused the Government in yesterday's The Irish Times of raising "expectations of the end of so-called austerity" and suggested that the deal is generally being oversold. I thought it was rich of him to write that "calling it a 'milestone' is ridiculous hyperbole". I looked up "milestone" in the dictionary to see whether it might mean something other than what I take it to mean. It is defined as something that indicates the distance to a certain point, which is exactly what the Government has been saying in this regard. This deal is an important development on our way to somewhere else.

Other speakers - Deputy Halligan yesterday and Deputy Boyd Barrett this morning - have accused the Government of "back-slapping" and overstating what has been achieved. Every Government spokesman I have heard has played down the immediate impact of the deal on austerity. I would be the first to caution those who are looking for tax reductions or spending increases that there is no new pot of money. I believe they know that. The impact of this deal is that less money will have to be borrowed. It is not the case that more money will be available to be spent as a result of the deal. The Opposition cannot have it both ways. They cannot claim the deal has no merit while looking for the proceeds of the deal, as they see it, to be spent and frittered away.

The Government must decide whether to stick to the original budgetary adjustment so that the deficit target of 3% of GDP can be reached, or ease up on the spending cuts and tax increases that are planned. The correct course is by no means obvious at this stage. One could argue that the quicker we cut the deficit, the quicker we will get back to normal budgeting and normal interest rates and the greater the possibility of a reflationary Government stimulus package. One could equally argue that such an approach runs the risk of having a deflationary effect on an economy that is already flagging. I do not know what the Minister for Finance is thinking. His mind may be made up for him by the growth rates in Europe, which will affect our ability to achieve the 3% GDP target.

Fintan O'Toole is not the only naysayer. The many people who say this was not our debt are right. The problem is that it is now our debt. There is no getting away from that. It was not our debt originally. Railing against it now is like railing against last year's weather. It is just as futile and just as corrosive to national morale. We should never have agreed to take on the liabilities of Anglo Irish Bank, but unfortunately we did. We copperfastened the underwriting of its liabilities when we took the money for the bailout.

As I have run out of time, I will conclude by saying we got the best deal we could in the circumstances. That can be judged from the reaction of the markets and the rating agencies. This deal improves our chances of getting back into the markets and saying goodbye to the troika for once and for all, something for which we all wish.

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