The Dáil has approved the memorandum of understanding on the EU/IMF bail-out package for Ireland. After a two-hour debate, it was approved by 81 votes to 75.
During the debate, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said the country should not need an extra year to reach a deficit target of 3% of GDP as provided for under the terms of the deal.
He told the Dáil it was a welcome measure, but would be needed only if the more cautious outlook on economic growth came to pass.
Minister Lenihan also said it mystified him why any party would vote against the deal and said it was laughable to suggest that we could get a better deal from the IMF.
The Fine Gael and Labour leaders both vowed to vote against the package and to seek to have it re-negotiated.
Enda Kenny repeated that the institutions had made it clear they were open to re-negotiating aspects of the agreement with Ireland. He said the deal on offer was not fair or credible and contrasted it to the deal that Iceland secured with the UK and the Netherlands to pay back debt at 3.2% interest.
The Labour leader also said his party would seek to re-negotiate the deal with the EU and IMF after the next election. Eamon Gilmore said there was agreement that the public finances needed to be brought under control, but with a jobs and growth strategy. 1320
He described today's vote as a cynical exercise and another example of the political posturing that could be expected during the election.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said the threat of legal action had forced the Government into holding today's debate. He said the interest repayments were unsustainable for the country, and any deal had to distinguish between private debt and sovereign debt.
Banks bill set to face opposition
Fine Gael and Labour now look set to oppose the Government's bank restructuring bill after divisions on the measure deepened overnight.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny called for the Dáil to be recalled on Tuesday to discuss the measure and Labour's Joan Burton said sections of the bill were unconstitutional.
Watch the debate live here
Last night, the main opposition parties said they backed the bill in principle, but attitudes hardened as they studied the measure, which gives sweeping powers to the Finance Minister to intervene in the banking sector.
Deputy Kenny said it was not possible to consider the measure in a day and asked for the Dáil to sit next Tuesday.
Deputy Burton said the powers given to the minister would do justice to North Korea, and she insisted that a key section was unconstitutional because - as she put it - it turned the minister into a one-man legislature.
There were angry scenes as she clashed with Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk, who repeatedly threatened to suspend the house. Sinn Féin said the Bill was 'out' as far as they were concerned.
The row delayed the start of a two-hour debate on the EU/IMF deal.
