Joe O'Toole (Independent)

They have been given a full guarantee by the State without facing any risk, while enjoying high interest rates. They are raising the stakes in the game ever higher. We must recognise that the game has changed in that respect and our response must differ.

Notwithstanding what one reads in Irish newspapers today, Senators should read what is being written in the international media, notably the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, because these newspapers take a different view of the issue facing us. They clearly state the problem is European rather than Irish in nature. The Government should take a similar view during the discussions in Brussels tonight. We do not want a European solution to an Irish problem but a European solution to a European problem. We know what will happen. Those in Brussels who spoke with certainty one year ago, when it was scandalous even to use the word "bailout", now seek to bully Ireland into accepting a bailout. We need to know exactly what is being done. I do not mind if Ireland accepts money if this needs to be done, but I am not convinced by those who have changed their views at various times in the past year. Under no circumstances should we work on the basis that we have to sort out an Irish problem. Were the Irish problem to be sorted, these international gamblers would start gambling on Portugal, then on Spain and so on. Whatever is done, it must be considered in that way and, therefore, one must confirm the view that new targets are needed. I looked back to ascertain whether this has ever arisen before, because there are no new problems in the world. I found that the International Monetary Fund had encountered this problem previously in emerging economies over many years. It was obliged to deal with it in a number of ways in cases where it decided it would be impossible for an economy to redeem fully, on the basis of changed circumstances, all of the bondholders 100%. In a solution that is close to the so-called bail-in solution about which people are talking, it developed a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism which effectively was to state that people who buy in may be obliged, if circumstances change, to take a hit to some extent at the end.