Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am just saying I am glad the Minister has arrived, because that is how silly it is. We have got carried away and punch drunk, thinking we can do what we like, when we like, where we like and to hell with the people and to hell with Bunreacht na hÉireann. We simply say, "Yes, we will do whatever you ask" to our European colleagues. We have never looked for a write-down for the bondholders that the party of the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Howlin, were going to burn. I will not even go back to that again. However, I know now that the Government never asked for the write-down. I learned from the IMF in Washington when I visited there that the bondholders were actually insured and would not have lost a shilling if the Government had had the bonfire.

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