Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased we have a Deputy from Fianna Fáil in the House because the debate on how best to clean up the mess this country is in has had an absence of the people who caused it in the first place.

The motion from the Technical Group is remarkably naive and simplistic. I would be surprised if they all agree ideologically. Some of the references are plainly untruthful. The cost of our banking debt, specifically the promissory note debt, is being totalled with all our Government debt. However, 75% of the cost of servicing our debt is made up of our public service debt that has built up over recent years. Are people really suggesting that the country, which was on its knees and had to borrow money to fund our hospitals, schools and social protection system, should now, having taken the money to pay for these services, renege on that debt?

It is true to say that it is a sickener for everyone involved in the country to see the amount of money that remains on our shoulders by virtue of the total banking debt. However, in the case of the promissory note deal in particular it would be crazy in any way, shape or form to renegotiate. One of the speakers opposite referred to Greece. Greece, which partially reneged, is today paying three times what we are paying on the bond market.

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