Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for her work to date. Will she outline clearly what the Government has proposed to deal with the issue of bank debt? Has it proposed a write-down of the debt or a lengthy extension of the repayment term at low interest rates? What response it received? Was it a "Yes", "No" or "Maybe"? Those questions combined are my first question.

What position has the Government taken on the issue of eurobonds? I understand a consensus had been reached in Irish political circles that the introduction of eurobonds would be a significant way of dealing with the mutualisation of our sovereign debt. I listened with interest to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, raising a note of caution on eurobonds when he spoke on "The Week in Politics" programme on Sunday night. Eurobonds, he said, would be akin to Germany allowing Ireland to use its credit card as we saw fit and, by the same token, Ireland allowing the Greeks to use our credit card to spend money as it wished. I understood this analogy to be an attempt by the Minister to raise a flag of caution or dissenting view that eurobonds may not be the best way to address this problem. His argument appears to be that the overarching conditions that could attach to eurobonds, including the requirement it would impose on member states to justify individual borrowing events, would have the potential to be so onerous as not to be worth the candle. I am paraphrasing, but that is my understanding of what he said. I would like clarity on the issue. I do not expect to receive an answer on the other issue, as we did not get one from the Taoiseach earlier.

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