John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I call on the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Finance to come into the House to give a brief description and clarification of what is happening with regard to the impending deadline for the payment of the promissory notes. It is important that the negotiators are allowed as much autonomy and freedom as possible to negotiate but it is also important that, as a democracy, this and the other House would be informed in general terms about what is happening in this regard. The payment of ¤3.1 billion is due in March and if things go awfully wrong, another ¤3.1 billion will be due in June from last year. It will make every other thing we do in this country redundant if we cannot achieve a deal on this.

I was a little disappointed with some of the comments speculating about the negotiations that I heard from those in the media and the Opposition. I would give the humble advice that Opposition Members when commenting on perceived bad news in the media about the negotiations would do well to keep the joy out of their voices. I listened to a fellow Corkman and finance spokesperson for Fianna Fáil speak on the radio over the weekend commenting about the perceived setbacks in the negotiations and-----