Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

No matter what way one considers the good news relating to the promissory notes, one cannot escape the fact that the deal done last week is a welcome development in terms of the economic fortunes of this country. I acknowledge the work done by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Noonan and Howlin, in this regard. The work in question was arduous and painstaking and those involved in it experienced many dark days, nights, weeks and months during the past two years. However, they have brought home the bacon in respect of this issue. The deal reflects the serious intent of this Administration in the context of fixing the public finances and the banking system.

The sheer hypocrisy and gall displayed by Fianna Fáil, whose members were the architects of the destruction of the Irish economy, and by Sinn Féin, whose members voted in favour of the blanket guarantee both here and in the Upper House, during this debate has been breathtaking. When the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste gave a commitment to the effect that they would fix this country and when the Labour Party indicated in its election manifesto that it would renegotiate the deal, Deputy Martin predicted that this would neither happen nor was it possible. A host of individuals have been passing negative comment during the past couple of years. They initially predicted that a deal could not be done. When it appeared that a deal would be done, it became the position that it would not be done to suit them. Those to whom I refer are plugged in to a movement which is marked by moaning, groaning and negativity. They do not offer any constructive, proactive proposals. That type of empty and cynical politics must be consigned to the dustbin of history because it does not serve the people of this country or their interests.

On many occasions those on the Opposition benches have sneered and jibed about the Economic Management Council. The deal done last week represents the fruits of that council's labour. This is a good-news deal. It is good for this country, for its economy and for its citizens. One cannot consider the deal in cynical terms and state that it delivers only part of this or that and does not deliver other things. This deal has already given rise to tangible results. The former Anglo Irish Bank, which formed the major part of IBRC, and the promissory notes are gone. That news has been largely well received. However, some people are not happy until they are complaining and miserable. Last week's news has driven them demented. They have scrambled, searched and forensically analysed the deal. However, they cannot criticise it in a constructive manner. They have retreated and merely offered their cynical, empty and miserable points of view. If we were obliged to depend on politicians such as them, the fortunes of this country would be a hell of a lot worse.

When this Administration came to office, there were three overarching themes in the context of what it set out to achieve, namely, to restore our reputation abroad, to fix the banking system and the public finances and to get people back into employment. Those objectives are being worked on on an hourly and daily basis by this Administration. Any objective analysis - there have been many of them offered in the past week - has pointed towards this and has offered credit and recognition where they are due.

Two years ago, Ireland's international reputation was in tatters. The IMF came to town and extended to some of the parties in opposition the opportunity to meet its representatives. The former were nearly laughed out of the room because they are so ridiculous. An individual who sits on the Sinn Féin benches just across from me - and who sat behind me when we were Members of Seanad Éireann - engaged in his usual empty, windbag-style rhetoric at that time. I will not forget for as long as I live the fact that he donned the green jersey to support the blanket guarantee. The former Anglo Irish Bank was dragged into that guarantee and it almost dragged the country down with it. We are again being obliged to listen to empty, windbag-style, ignorant and miserable comment from those who are seeking to destroy the good news story for which the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Cabinet fought so hard.

On 2 February 2011, when Fianna Fáil realised its goose was cooked - it still wanted to remain in office for a further 12 months and visit more wreck and ruin on the lives of ordinary, hardworking and decent people - Deputy Martin stated, "Eamon Gilmore needs to be honest about this with the Irish people and stop pretending that you can postpone the corrections to 2016 and that everyone will accept it." Deputy Martin also accused Deputy Gilmore of not living in the real world because he thought the deal could not be renegotiated. I refer, of course, to the absolutely catastrophic and miserable deal - it was nothing short of a financial Armageddon - that the Cabinet of which that man, Deputy Martin, was a member authored and which will lead to economic trauma being visited upon the people of this country for generations. In many ways, this reflects what happened in the 1980s when Fine Gael-Labour Governments spent five years in office trying to clean up the apocalyptic mess left behind by Fianna Fáil after its time in office at the end of the 1970s. In the 1977 general election, Fianna Fáil cynically bought people's votes and they did the same in 1997, 2002 and 2007.

Earlier, we debated the Magdalen laundries. Fianna Fáil was in power for 14 years but it did nothing in respect of the people who suffered in those institutions. It is only since the current Government came into office that those in Fianna Fáil discovered both their consciences and the fact that they have some type of obligation to those who suffered so miserably at the hands of the State and the religious orders. Throughout this evening, they have been uttering rubbish about this and that not being done in respect of both the Magdalen laundries and the deal on the promissory notes which was concluded last week. The previous Fianna Fáil Government engaged in a systematic assault on the economy of this country. The current Administration is turning around the position. The deal is a good news story and any objective analysis will show this to be the case.

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