Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of the debt associated with Ireland, 80% relates to the fact that we were spending more than we were taking in. Any good economist will recognise that one cannot sustain a household, business or country like that. Deputy Shane Ross will agree with me. At the moment, the national debt is 80% of what we owe while 20% of the debt is associated with the banks. The bulk of the money that was put into the banks went into Anglo, which was defunct. When one looks at our debt and whether a debt conference would be of benefit to us, one must conclude that it would not. That is because most of our debt is associated with bad policies and bad management of the economy. It is significant that not one Fianna Fáil Deputy is here tonight. That party was responsible for the bulk of the 80% of our debt. In fact, some of the Independents who are still in the Dáil supported the fact that 80% of debt was the result of the fact that we were spending more than we were taking in.

The Government has changed the profile of our debt and spread it in order that it may become sustainable. Our debt restructuring has made it much more sustainable and possible the positive signs in recent years such as the increase in the number of people working and returning to the country to work. The key is not to have a talking shop but to look to the European Union and its institutions to help to sustain other countries that have financial difficulties. The initial talk by Syriza in Greece was that it would burn the bondholders and not pay back any debt, but suddenly that has changed dramatically.

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