Sinn Féin finance spokesperson, Pearse Doherty TD, has said the government is repeating the mistakes of the past in rushing through unclear, far-reaching banking legislation.
"After nearly two years of negotiations the government has succeeded only in achieving a farcical situation. Every last cent of the Anglo-Irish debt is to be repaid. That much is clear.
"This is a humiliating failure for the government. Having promised change they are now repeating exactly the same mistakes as Fianna Fáil.
"The role of the ECB in aiding the chaos shows that the government has chosen Frankfurt's Way.
"We need a write-down of this debt so that the billions tied up can be used to create jobs and protect the vulnerable. Sinn Féin was the first to raise the issue of the Promissory Notes and we have consistently called for them to not to be paid.
"The only thing clear tonight is that there is no write-down and that the debts are being formalised as a sovereign debt.
"Tonight, this debt becomes as much as Labour's and Fine Gael's legacy as it is Fianna Fáil's. This government is repeating the mistakes of the past.
"Only last June the government claimed it had achieved a EuroGroup commitment to separate banking and sovereign debt. Now we know we are to adopt the Promissory Notes as formal sovereign debt.
"There is no clarity tonight that the agreement that might be struck will actually improve the debt situation for the state or critically to reduce the crippling austerity working people are labouring under. There is nothing yet to suggest that one Garda station will remain open or one rural school not having to close because of this so-called deal."

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