LABOUR TD KENNY SAYS DEBT DEAL IS GIANT STEP FORWARD FOR IRELAND

Posted on February 14, 2013 2:13 PM   |   Permanent Link   

I warmly welcome the deal on the IBRC promissory notes as a commitment delivered on, and another step on the road to economic recovery. It is a giant step forward for Ireland. As we all know, IBRC was formerly the Anglo Irish Bank and also the Irish Nationwide Building Society.

It can perhaps be said that this is the deal that Ireland should always have secured when it emerged that the situation in Anglo Irish Bank was so serious.

The significance of this deal and the work that has gone into securing it really cannot be underestimated. The deal will save Ireland €20 billion in borrowing costs over the coming decades and reduces the national deficit by €1 billion every year. It is important to say that we are not out of the woods yet. While there will still be cuts to spending over the next 2 years, the burden on Ireland has eased as a result of this deal. It puts our debts on a more sustainable footing. It will help us grow our economy and create jobs.

I must say that I think it is irresponsible of the Opposition who are trying to put it out there that the Promissory Notes could somehow be defaulted on, or forgotten about. The reality is that they couldn't. To do so is not possible under the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union. The promissory notes were sovereign debt - they were made the responsibility of the Irish people by the last government - while it would be fantastic to simply not pay that back, the reality is that it must be paid back. The Opposition opposed to this deal need to deal with political reality and not political fantasy.

Sinn Fein has absolutely no credibility on the bank debt problem, which has very nearly ruined this country; they voted to bail out the banks and make bank debt sovereign debt. Yes, they changed their minds later on, but they can't get away from their initial position. Anyone who claims the state of the country is not somewhat better today than prior to the events of last week either fails to understand what is happening or is using existing political developments for their own political convenience.

I made a promise to the people who elected me in 2011. That promise was to play my part to sort out the awful mess that last government left Ireland. This deal is part of that promise. It also does what many, many constituents of mine, and other citizens across the nation have e-mailed me about ever since I was elected to Dáil Éireann in 2011 and every day since - stop paying the €3.1 Billion promissory notes. Well, we have stopped paying them. They are now history.

For those who call very loudly for an end to the Promissory Notes, only to criticise the deal after seeing it achieved is very surprising and very disappointing. Individuals who continue to insist on default simply must understand that defaulting or monetary financing to write-down sovereign debt is illegal under the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union, specifically Articles 123, 124 and 125. That is the reality that all of us in this House, the European Parliament and the European Institutions are required to work within. Those who may think it acceptable to preach in the media, or in this House, need to take account of political and legal reality. If people want to call for reform of the European Union and how it conducts economic policy then that is what they should do. But calling for Ireland to simply default as though it can just do so quite simply defies the political and legal reality we are all required to work within.

In conclusion, Labour in Government is solving the problems that Ireland faces, and today is another step towards the economic recovery of Ireland. What this government now needs to do and what it will strive to do is to bring forward further arrangements for our banking debt and our sovereign debt. Yet more work is going to be required on this but I am convinced that this work will result infurther significant results for Ireland and its people.