Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In June 2012 the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, was asked how much of the potential €60 billion would come Ireland’s way for recapitalisation. He replied:

It’s clear you’ve never been to the fair of Glynn or sold a calf. Sure, if I had told them the minimum, that’s what they would give me.

If we received the minimum, it appears that we asked for nothing. The panic reaction of the Government to the revelation that there was no campaign to relieve bank-related debt was aptly shown in the interview with the Minister of State in Brussels on the second day of the summit. Among claims that everything was grand and on track, he even claimed that the promissory notes had been ripped up. They have been converted into formal sovereign debt and all savings have gone to cover budget holes as a result of lower growth and spending overruns. The Taoiseach's speech gives the truth when he says there is a lot of negotiation to be done on this aspect of the facility, but the agreement keeps the possibility, just the possibility, to apply.

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