“I misspoke yesterday in the Dáil and made a mistake in terms of how I articulated it.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he “misspoke” on Wednesday in the Dáil when he said that the banks did not receive a bailout.
Martin clarified his comments from Wednesday in an interview with The Echo on Thursday.
“I misspoke yesterday in the Dáil and made a mistake in terms of how I articulated it,” he told The Echo.
“Essentially I was making the point that the shareholders…themselves weren’t bailed out.
“But obviously the banks, there was a huge rescue package for the banks, of course there was we know that, in terms of both protecting depositors and protecting bond holders,” he said.
Speaking in the Dáil 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.”
The Taoiseach has tested negative for Covid-19 following an announcement on Thursday that he was limiting his movements after French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Covid-19.
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