Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the German statement last weekend had positive implications from an Irish perspective but the game changer predicted last June has not materialised. The celebratory tone and action of the past number of days has not been reasonable in the context of considering our position on this issue. The Taoiseach and his Ministers need to go to their counterparts in Brussels and come back with a deal because it is not good enough to expect people in mortgage arrears, those who are contemplating cuts to their home help hours and those who are contemplating how long they will have to wait for a medical procedure to go there and say, "We're special". "We're special" does not pay the bills, reduce the debt or give any cognisance to the fact that the people of Ireland fronted up and saved the euro. The German Government needs to be told in no uncertain terms-----