John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

While I also express my solidarity with the people of Greece, it seems that the argument about debt relief has become a battle of ideologies rather than a battle of answers. The Government took the very pragmatic step in putting the national interest first by negotiating with the best hand it had in a quiet manner. While there will be many critics of this, there are no queues today at banks in Ireland to make cash withdrawals. The pharmacies here have medicines. People here can spend money because they have money. If we had listened to the counsel of some of our opponents on the strategy being pursued, we might have found ourselves in that position.