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

In response to Deputy Pringle, I did not say that. I said that at the end of the hierarchy that is in place or that is being negotiated at the moment, there is a role for backstops within all of that. We are very clear that within those backstops there must be a significant and clear European system in place. As evidence of that I would just point to conclusion No. 43 which calls on the euro group to finalise guidelines for the ESM for direct recapitalisation so that the ESM can have the possibility to recapitalise banks directly following the establishment of the single supervisory mechanism. That is the conclusion that came out of all of this. It says that at the end of the hierarchy that we have discussed, backstops of a kind will be available. The role of the ESM is laid out in all of that.

In response to the points raised by Deputy Dooley, while I can fully appreciate that his political comments are not directed at me, I feel an obligation to respond to them. I am struck by Deputy Dooley's remarks, as well as those of his party leader, regarding this matter. I can understand the sensitivity of this issue for Fianna Fáil. After all, Fianna Fáil is the party of the promissory note and the bailout. This Government ended the existence of the promissory note and will ensure that this country can exit the bailout programme. I can completely understand the sensitivity of this for Fianna Fáil and why its members are using the language they are using in this discussion. That party put in place a bailout programme that had an unaffordable rate of interest attached, anchored by the payment of a promissory note that it said could never be changed. Both of those things have been changed by the current Government.

Deputy Dooley made reference to the issue of an application for a precautionary credit line. This Government is not going to adopt the same kind of casual attitude to these matters as that adopted by the last Government, which included Deputy Martin in its ranks. We are going to very carefully weigh up all of the options that are open to our State to ensure that we can make a sustainable exit from the bailout programme and that our country can fully fund itself in the future. It is a matter of the most immense importance. We will carefully weigh up all of the options in the coming weeks and make a decision that we believe is in the best interests of this country, economically and socially. That is another point of difference between the process that we will adopt in this regard and the one adopted by the last Government, of which Deputy Martin was a member.

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