Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ireland is a small country with a small population. We do not have oil wells or gold mines. It is the working people who are paying this debt. It was not the working people or the people of Ireland who caused the problem; it was the bondholders and the bankers.

I ask the Minister to tell the ECB bankers that we will pay. Irish people have always paid their way. We cannot pay until we have the money, however, and there is too much pressure on the current generation given what they are suffering at present. Germany should understand this well because it did not finish paying its First World War debt until three or four years ago. We still need to do better and the Government, including the Minister, needs to do better in this regard. The economic recovery has not gone far beyond the Red Cow.

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