Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Sunday, Deputy Noonan got his way when the ECB froze its funding line to Greek banks. Last week, the Taoiseach railed against the idea of debt write-down and debt relief for the Greek people. It was no big surprise, given that he never asked for a debt write-down for the Irish people. However, he has written off hundreds of millions of euro in debt for companies in this State, including write-downs from State-owned and nationalised banks. Greece owes the State €300 million. Denis O'Brien secured that much in debt write-downs from IBRC, a State-owned bank, and the Government thinks it is okay. The Government thinks debt write-downs are okay for some people but not for the people of Greece. Is it not true that Fine Gael and the Labour Party oppose a write-down for Greece because it would expose the Government's failure to demand the same for the people of this State? Will the Government set aside its party political concerns and support the Greek Government's request for more time? It is a simple request. The Taoiseach received a letter from the Greek Prime Minister asking for support, which he refused. I ask him to reconsider and to support the Greek Government's request for more time to negotiate a fair settlement.

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