Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They have no wish to risk an inquiry that does not support their political agenda. Naturally, one thing the Taoiseach especially does not like referring to is that he voted for the same guarantee he says was the product of collusion. He sought outside advice and, in the cold light of day, supported it. He also went to his own private briefing at Anglo Irish Bank headquarters and seems to admit to believing that the bank would survive.

Last week in Brussels, the Taoiseach was eager to make this issue as prominent as possible. The majority of the Cabinet were sent out to deliver snide personal calls on people to supposedly reveal information that is already public. The Taoiseach was eager that the focus should be on implying Government collusion and that it should be seen as a particularly Irish issue. It is striking that Chancellor Merkel, in her reasonable comments, took a completely different approach from the Taoiseach. She directed her comments not only against Irish bankers, but against the mentality in many parts of the industry throughout Europe.

I have looked at the record relating to the three previous leaders of Fine Gael who were taoisigh during our Presidencies. In no case have I been able to find anything which comes close to the cynical party politics the Taoiseach displayed last week. The scale of this cynicism becomes more evident since we have learned that last week Ireland was confirmed as having returned to recession. It is two years since the Taoiseach started claiming to have delivered growth, but four of the past five quarters have seen the economy decline. Most people would have expected the Taoiseach and his Ministers to give a response to this and to explain what their strategy is to reverse the new trend, but they had nothing to say. They ran away from the microphones when asked about the return to recession but sought out every opportunity to talk about 2008.

Fundamentally, this is a Government more interested in exploiting the past than learning from it. It wants to keep re-fighting the last election and is happy to find people who support them in this. It is increasingly clear that it is not helping the Government to halt rising levels of dissatisfaction and falling levels of trust.

Last week's summit signed off on the last part of the country-specific approach to economic policy. The ensuing recommendations entrench current orthodoxy. They do not call on countries that have the ability to stimulate their economies to do so. They leave Europe with an economic policy which claims that freer trade and lower regulation are all that we need to deliver competitiveness, jobs and growth.

The documents agreed last week contain no hope of a new direction and no answer to the rising evidence of a deeper economic downturn taking hold in Europe.

The need for an urgently arranged final meeting involving the heads of the different institutions proved that the budget deal announced the previous week was no deal. It is welcome that there is a political agreement on a budget but there is no circumstance in which Ireland should welcome this budget. No matter how the Taoiseach spins it, the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, will hinder, not help growth in Europe. It implements a cut in the European Union's already low share of the European economy. By definition, cutting spending will be deflationary. Even more seriously, to fund some new areas. existing ones are to be cut severely. The rural economy will feel this most but so too will sectors which were relying on Europe taking a leading role in promoting growth through innovation. While the €6 billion youth employment fund has been improved because of the European Parliament's demands, it still is wholly inadequate. It is not large or focused enough to make a major difference in any country and over-selling it is foolish.

Last week's agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, is welcome because it does less damage than was originally feared. The 10% cut to overall funding that was agreed by the Council will cause serious problems. However, Fianna Fáil welcomes the withdrawal by the Irish Presidency of its earlier position of skewing the budget towards larger units and away from the core social and environmental role of the Common Agricultural Policy.

As for banking union, the spin about last week's deal on the European Stability Mechanism, ESM, and resolution mechanisms has already fallen apart. This deal does not do what is claimed. After the deal, The Economistwrote that no matter what the politicians were claiming, “the poisonous link between weak sovereigns and weak banks in the euro remains intact”. Yesterday, the Financial Timeswent into more detail by writing:

It kills the last chance of a resolution that could have ended the depression in the eurozone periphery. In the brave new world of the EU's resolution regime, all risks will be shared between various categories of bank creditors, which are mostly domestic institutions, and the banks' home states.

The European Council... has long become silent on the ceremonious pledge, made in June 2012, to break the link between sovereigns and the banks. Last week's agreement did not break it. It has not even been diluted. It has been reconfirmed.

The Taoiseach must reconcile his claims about what was agreed last week in respect of banking union with these independent assessments of what was agreed.

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