AN AGGRESSIVE BRIAN COWEN has firmly dismissed claims by the opposition that the terms of the bailout secured from the EU and IMF were a bad deal, insisting that criticism of the deal was unfounded.

Responding to claims that the interest rate being charged of Ireland – an average of 5.83% – was higher than that being asked of Greece which received a rate of 5.2% for its own bailout, Cowen accused the opposition of spinning facts, suggesting that opposition parties were well aware that the Greek rate was over three years, while Ireland’s was for over 7.5 years.

Greece had even begun lobbying Europe to have its own bailout amended to be on the same terms as Ireland’s, Cowen said.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had said that being reduced to seeking financial aid from the Chancellor of the Exchequer – which Ireland is accepting as part of the funding package was “not what we expect” from a sovereign nation.

“We face a situation where the family silver has been sold and the people’s money has been raided,” Kenny said. “What happened last Sunday was demonstration of the art, craft and skill of national destruction.”

‘Flights of rhetoric’

Countering Cowen’s assertion that there was no alternative but to seek overseas aid, given the high price of government borrowing being currently asked by the markets, Kenny said the reason the market rates were so high was “because of the gross ineptitude of your government.”

The Taoiseach commented, however, that Kenny’s manner was to indulge in “flights of rhetoric” when discussing substantial issues, and that the Fine Gael leader was merely seeking to “grab a headline”.

Labour’s Eamon Gilmore, meanwhile, said he “didn’t think that it was possible for the Taoiseach and this Fianna Fáil government to do any more damage to the country” following the banking bailout, but that “by any standards, the deal that was done last Sunday is a sellout of this country.

“Last Sunday, you and your government took this country to the pawn shop,” Gilmore said, adding that the government ”have no shame” and that the bailout deal was “lousy”.

Asked by the Labour leader if Fianna Fáil would be abiding by its constitutional duty to hold a Dáil vote on the agreement, Cowen said that the government’s deal was an exercise of its executive power which did not require a vote by the Oireachtas.

The Dáil had never been asked to vote in favour of any bond issues in the past, Cowen said, so there was no need to hold one in this case.

Cowen also said that the government stood by the Department of Finance’s projections for 1.75% economic growth next year, despite forecasts by the European Commission putting it at a mere 0.9%.