Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure.

Last week, during the course of statements on the decision not to seek an additional credit line I stated that, while welcome, the decision should not be considered to be a job done or anything approaching a certain return to times of prosperity. I took the view that amid the excitable reaction and triumphalism on the Government side there was a need for perspective. I believe this motion provides that perspective.

We are still a country carrying levels of debt which are utterly unsustainable. The word "unsustainable" has been used time and again in the Chamber, but what I mean is that our economy will continue to struggle to cope with these regular payments. More than any other fact, the reality of being forced to pay these debts will dictate Ireland's economic future for the next 30 to 40 years.

We all know the origins of this debt. The Fianna Fáil mismanagement of the economy and its disastrous decision to guarantee those bonds will live in infamy. The mistakes of that period should never be forgotten. However, that does not allow the current Government off the hook. It has resolved on numerous occasions to pay the bondholders this odious debt, culminating in the decision in February to turn the remainder of the promissory notes into sovereign bonds. The Government may well condemn and criticise the previous Fianna Fáil Government, but it was the current Government which foolishly turned the notes into sovereign debt on the basis of a short-term publicity boost, long since forgotten, and on the basis of a broad aspirational statement at a European level. As things stand, a commitment does not look like coming to fruition.

We need not go back over red cents and Frankfurt's way once again, but the mandate these parties received was clear. It is perfectly clear to me that the Government's strategy, which seems to be to remain as quiet, meek and accepting as possible, has failed. Time and again the Government has failed to raise the matter at European level. Where has that left us? It has left us with a debt that remains vast, at 124% of GDP and it is increasing.

I commend those who have steadfastly campaigned against the payment of the toxic debt, including the Ballyhea group from north Cork. We stand with them and share their view that we have no obligation to honour the debts of these speculators and gamblers and that our children will deeply regret that failure. Our children will curse that decision. The Government traded the €28 billion promissory notes for a sovereign liability to the State which could, with interest, amount to €60 billion. If ever a decision were to be described as penny wise and pound foolish, that was it. Not one penny of that debt was caused by the public. We never needed to pay those debts, they were not our debts then and they are not our debts now. We have consistently pointed out that we did not need to pay the debt, that such a course of action would not damage confidence in Ireland and that it would be wrong to pay these bondholders.

There is a bitter irony in the fact that now, as our Government has turned promissory notes into sovereign debt, burning the bondholders appears as though it might become European economic policy. Economists are fond of referring to Japan's so called lost decade in the 1990s as an example of continued economic stagnation. In Ireland we will not only have a lost decade but it will be compounded by a lost generation as we lose vast numbers of our young people. We had long trumpeted our young population as a major economic asset. Now we have a situation whereby of the 89,000 emigrants in 2013, a total of 34,800 were between 15 and 24 years and 41,000 were between 25 and 44 years. This will have a significant impact on our long-term ability to attract investment and create jobs.

Despite the Government's efforts to paint a rosy picture, the long-term outlook for the Irish economy is not so positive. If we are to return to real prosperity it is essential that the debt burden is lifted. It is not too late to tackle this. The consensus in Europe has shifted and generally there is an acceptance that the type of debt we have paid out on is odious and that the State should not be liable. There is an opportunity to be grasped. However, for that to take place the Government must change its approach and take a firmer line with the European Central Bank with regard to the debt. We should not simply hope that the bank will look kindly on Ireland, we should demand movement. I hope the Government backs the motion and acts on it, for the sake of our children's future.

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