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

These are just the figures. The challenge for our State is that we need to borrow to close the gap between what is taken in taxes and what is spent on public services. The Government has decided that increasing the term of the promissory notes payments, doing what we can to support our banking system and closing the gap between spending and taxation will bring us to a point at which it will be affordable for the State to borrow again. As Deputy Mathews knows, the interest rate on our borrowings at the moment is between 3% and 4%. Those who advocate unilateral action must explain how we would maintain this low interest rate.

See this speech in context