Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fine Gael and the Labour Party promised in the last election that we would overhaul the flawed bailout agreement made by Fianna Fáil. We reversed job-destroying increases in income tax and the cut in the minimum wage. We saved taxpayers billions by negotiating cheaper rates on our debt, liquidating Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, replacing the penal promissory notes and, most recently, reaching agreement to repay expensive IMF loans at an earlier date.

Our strategy of consistent and determined engagement with our international partners has transformed our international reputation and resulted in real gains and real benefits for our people. The line of foreign direct investment remains very strong. The billions saved will be invested back in our society, including through better services for our people and better infrastructure for our economy. If we followed the Sinn Féin policy in 2011 of telling the troika to go home with their money or telling Europe to bugger off, Ireland would be trapped in a vicious cycle of forced bailouts and loss of national sovereignty.

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