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

It is talking about extending the debt or exchanging it for some sort of bond it will produce. The European Union is in a better position than it was in 2008 and 2009 when the crisis first hit to afford to sustain the Greeks' debt. While the European Union is in a position to support the Greeks, the Greek people must pay the debt that resulted from their economy spending more than it was taking in. Previous speakers referred to the Greek tax take. Two months before the election, the tax take dropped dramatically because the people expected the incoming government to remove all taxes. They live in cloud-cuckoo-land in which nobody pays for anything and European Union and Irish taxpayers will pay for everything. That is not a Utopia in which anybody wants to live and it is part and parcel of typical Sinn Féin policies.

We can deal with the debt in various ways. We can pay it back. Given that we have had a primary surplus since 2014, should we consider paying back our debt? I always believe in a policy of extending the debt further in order to make it more sustainable for the country to run it. I look at matters from two opposite positions, namely, the German and the American positions. The German way is to pay back debt, while the American way is to grow the economy. Our policy is to try to grow the economy. As Deputy Mary Mitchell O’Connor said, the Central Bank concurs with this.

A couple of weeks ago the Minister for Finance mentioned that our shares in AIB were valued at approximately €14 billion and indicated that this year he might sell 25% to 30% of the shareholding in the bank. While certain people say we should use the money to pay off the debt, we should use it to grow the economy further. We should invest it in infrastructure such as schools and the roads necessary for a growing economy and to give everybody in the country access to high speed broadband. With access to high speed broadband, people in the west would be able to stay there, create jobs and bring long-term, sustainable growth to the economy. I am delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, is present and with the way he is nodding at some of the ideas I have thrown out.

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