"It's clear he has resigned to avoid the humiliation of being expelled."– Former Fianna Fáil Castlebar councillor Eamon Joyce on the resignation of former minister Pádraig Flynn from the party on Monday
"I have always said that these two issues are distinct. The treaty is about stability for the euro. The talks on the promissory note are about getting a better way for the country."– Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore after he named Thursday, May 31st, as the day on which voters will be asked to amend article 29.4 of the Constitution to ratify the EU stability treaty and adopt the legislation required to bring it into effect
"It is perhaps time for the Government to reflect on how it should in future interact with people against whom adverse findings have been made by tribunals." – Speaking in the Dáil, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton warns her Government colleagues to review how they interact with businessman Denis O'Brien.
"The debt is being paid in a way that is less burdensome to the Irish State."– Minister for Finance Michael Noonan after the Government got agreement from European institutions to defer a cash payment of €3.06 billion that was due to be paid yesterday on the bailout bill for Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.
[There should have been] "a write-down of this unjust debt, not a deferral. [The Government has] "bounced the debt down the road but still intend to pay it".– Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald