Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me go back. Our country went over the cliff in terms of the economy. We had a €64 billion borrowing requirement, which put pressure on every person in the country. We have seen mass emigration and unemployment, negative equity and so on. The moneys put into Anglo Irish Bank are gone and cannot be recovered. However, the moneys put up for other banks were the subject of long discussions at the European Council and at the points before it arrived at the European Council.

The reason for all that was an attempt by Ireland, particularly because it was the first country to suffer from this, to ensure this could never happen again so it would be able to draw compensation again for its taxpayers. That took a long time, believe you me. The effect of the decision of June 2012 was actually to put and end to circumstances in which citizens, such as those of Ireland, would be the first to be hit or the first point of attack. In other words, the taxpayer took the brunt of everything first.

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