Gilmore: Govt has pawned the country

The Government was today accused of pawning the country in signing up to the multi-billion euro international bailout.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore branded the deal "lousy" and "a sellout" and claimed it tied the hands of the Government.

The Opposition rounded on Taoiseach Brian Cowen over the massive rescue package and questioned if he would put it to a vote in the Dáil.

“Taoiseach, last Sunday you and your Government took this country to the pawn shop,” Mr Gilmore said.

“I can’t believe that you come in here and try to convince us that what you got last Sunday represents some sort of a good deal.”

In a fiery attack, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the state now depends on handouts after the family silver had been sold off and people’s money raided.

Mr Kenny said the deal was an act of national destruction, and added that the country was priced out of the international bond markets because of the arrogance and ineptitude of the Government.

“It (the deal) was done as if the people didn’t matter, as if the people didn’t count and as if the people didn’t exist,” the Fine Gael chief said.

“This parliament, this Oireachtas, wasn’t consulted either. Do the deal in Brussels and let them eat cheese and the sleek limousines plough their way through the slush.”

But Mr Cowen gave an impassioned defence of the rescue package and the Government’s handling of the economic crisis, claiming it was the right deal for the country.

He demanded to know what alternative the Opposition could come up with when the interest rate on the bond markets were higher than the 5.8% agreed as part of the loans.

“The funding requirements of this state are now on a far firmer footing as a result of making this agreement than would have been the case without making an agreement,” Mr Cowen told the Dáil.

He accused the Fine Gael leader of retreating “into flights of rhetoric” any time a serious issue was raised.

And he stood by the Department of Finance’s 1.75% growth prediction for next year despite the European Commission yesterday giving a more modest 0.9% assessment.

Asked whether he would put the deal to the Dáil, Mr Cowen quoted Article 29.4 of the Constitution which he said focused on exercising executive power in external relations.

Meanwhile Sinn Féin, which presented Pearse Doherty for his first day in the Dáil since winning the Donegal South West by-election, said it was taking legal advice on the constitutionality of the deal.