Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil foisted upon taxpayers tens of billions of euro in liabilities as a result of its inability to regulate the banking system. It could not regulate the former Anglo Irish Bank, the debt of which dwarfed the sum total of all goods and services produced in this country. This Government, of which Fine Gael is a member, obtained agreement from the European Central Bank and other authorities abroad to put in place an arrangement that would bring this saga to an end.

Many analysts have commented on this matter. Deputy Mathews referred to one of them earlier, namely, Wolfgang Münchau, who has written about the eurozone debt crisis in the Financial Times. Those opposite should consider the level of recognition afforded by Mr. Münchau to the plan agreed last week and to the impact it can have in the context of Ireland's seeking to extricate itself from its current difficulties. When writing in the Sunday Independent last weekend, Colm McCarthy referred to "an unambiguous benefit of the deal, to which there was considerable resistance from elements in the ECB. The politicians, the Governor and the Central Bank and Department of Finance officials have done as good a job on this issue as could reasonably have been expected." The commentators to whom I refer are not involved in politics and they have neither an agenda nor an axe to grind in respect of this matter, but those are their assessments of the deal agreed between the Government and the European Central Bank.

Let us consider the elements that will ensure this deal has an impact on the lives of the people we seek to serve. I suggest that there are three aspects to the deal which will have an impact on the fortunes of our country. In the first instance, the deal makes it very clear to anybody seeking to lend to Ireland that their money will be repaid before any funds are devoted to paying off debts relating to the former Anglo Irish Bank. This has an immediate benefit because people who want to invest in our country and create jobs here can do so. The second aspect is that the deal will lead to a reduction in the rate of interest Ireland is obliged to pay as it seeks to borrow abroad. That is the golden thread connecting everything we are seeking to do. The lower the rate of interest, the less money we will be obliged to spend on servicing the national debt and the more money we can invest in funding public services and creating the most precious thing of all, namely, jobs for our people.

While this achievement is hugely significant and extremely important for the Government - and it shows the difference between what is in place now and what was there before - it also marks the beginning of a process relating to other changes we need to introduce. I am very confident that with the support of the people we will be as successful in bringing forward the changes to which I refer as we have been in negotiating the deal agreed last week.

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