Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hope he will be equally amused if we manage to secure some of this funding back. It is one thing to be the lapdog of our German masters, but we must secure a deal for the Irish people. I do not think our masters have been fair to us, quite frankly, in terms of the payments that have to be made. The effect of the actions taken by the Minister for Finance, his predecessor and others was to save the euro. I am sure it was difficult for them to bring all of their colleagues with them.

As a small country on the periphery of Europe, we have to box clever. I suggest that we need to start making a few demands. It seems that concessions are being made left, right and centre for Greece and other countries. We are doing the devil and all to satisfy the big players, but what is being done for the people here? I am not convinced that enough is being done. I think we should up the ante with our European partners. We have a veto that could be used - not recklessly, but justifiably, because of the sacrifices that have been made by this country as a whole.