"That's not a popular thing to say, but it's the facts."
Micheál Martin has said that the banks were not bailed out by the Irish Government in a passionate rant made on Wednesday.
A visibly frustrated Martin responded to comments made by Richard Boyd Barrett, and said that he was "sickened" by the way the Irish Solidarity–People Before Profit TD "led people up the hill all of the time."
He said that the state took equity, and that the shareholders were not bailed out.
"I'll talk to you about the banks. The banks were not bailed out. Shareholders in the banks were not bailed out, the state took equity. That's not a popular thing to say but it's the facts.
"But you never want to hear the facts because you live in a fantasy, economic wonderland."
He went on to say that if Boyd Barrett were ever to get into power, then thousands of jobs would "migrate" from the country.
Martin was speaking in relation to the post-2008 banking crisis, where a number of Irish financial institutions faced almost imminent collapse due to insolvency.
In response, the Irish government spent €64 billion to stop the banks from going out of business.
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