Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

In his radio interview this morning Professor Honohan spoke about a large loan of tens of billions of euro. He spoke of large teams of negotiators. He said: "That's why the large technical teams are sitting down discussing these matters." Who is the leader of the Irish team? Is it Professor Honohan? Does he have carte blanche from the Government on the negotiations? Is he a plenipotentiary? I accept there is a reference in the Constitution to the Minister. Is this like Michael Collins going to London, that Professor Honohan has been sent by the Minister presumably with large teams on the Irish side as there are three large teams on the foreign side, the IMF, the ECB and the Commission?

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