Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McDonald needs to get her own house in order. She continues to lecture people in here all the time about what we should be doing, but her party does not deliver where it has power and is in government. It is always somebody else's responsibility but never the Deputy's. That is always her story in terms of any issue.

The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform do not waltz in to meet the banks. Let us have less of that nonsense. They go in there to seek the best they can, which is the right deal with the best outcome. A payment break is only a payment break and is not in itself sufficient in the medium term to deal with people in loan distress or in difficulties with their mortgage arrears. The Minister for Finance will engage with the banks on this. Within the ECB framework and the European statutory framework, we did everything we could and, in fact, we were more generous than some of the countries the Deputy referenced.

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