Debate resumed on amendment No. 4:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:"recognises that the replacement of the promissory notes provided to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) with long-term Government bonds announced by an Taoiseach on Thursday, 7th February, 2013 provides important benefits to the State including:— a reduction in the general Government deficit of approximately €1 billion per annum over the coming years and will bring the State approximately €1 billion closer to attaining the 3% general Government deficit target by 2015; and — a reduction in the State’s cash borrowing requirement over the next 10 years by €20 billion by virtue of paying interest only on Government bonds rather than capital and interest on the promissory notes;acknowledges the considerable efforts made in recent months by those who negotiated on Ireland’s behalf including the Minister for Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank and officials from the Department of Finance and the National Treasury Management Agency; calls on the Government to use the €1 billion gain on the general Government deficit to ease the planned budget adjustments and to invest further in job creation measures without compromising the achievement of the 3% deficit target by 2015; notes that the Government has not sought or received any write down whatsoever of the legacy debt associated with the rescue of the former Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society; notes that the Euro Area Summit Statement of 29th June, 2012 reaffirming the imperative need to ‘break the vicious circle between the banks and the sovereigns’ has not been implemented in this case; notes that the conversion of the promissory notes to long-term Government bonds means that there will be no further easement of this debt as a result of evolving European policy; believes that the Central Bank should be permitted to retain the Government bonds for longer than the period agreed which would yield additional savings to the State; calls on the Government to publish a detailed analysis of the full impact of the deal on Ireland's debt and deficit figures over the full course of the deal including, for example, sensitivity analysis for varying interest rates on the Government bonds and possible payments to the National Asset Management Agency to cover any shortfall (should one arise) following the sale of IBRC assets by the Special Liquidator; and believes that the justice of Ireland's case deserves further relief from the impact of bank-related debt and, in particular, that the Government should be seeking to have the cost of bailing out AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB lifted from the shoulders of the State through the European Stability Mechanism."(Deputy Michael McGrath).

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