Mr. Ashley Fox:

I thank the Chair and the committee for welcoming us here today. I am a British Conservative who represents the south west of England and Gibraltar. Like the Chair, I find there is a great decline in trust of the European Union and the EU institutions among my constituents. I am quite sure this is due to the incompetence with which they have dealt with this crisis. Like Deputy Durkan, I accept that Ireland has been very badly used by the eurozone. Ireland seems to be picking up much of the bill for many of the other countries.

I am glad the United Kingdom is not part of the eurozone, but I wish Ireland and the rest of the eurozone well in fixing their problems. However, I think the fundamental problem is that the eurozone has 17 economies and one interest rate. Committee members should ask themselves the simple question: "Why did Ireland and Spain have a massive property boom that has ended in a crash?" The answer is quite simple. Interest rates were too low for too long. This is exactly what happened in the UK in the late 1980s.

The trouble is that even if with much effort and suffering Ireland gets through this crisis, it will be left in a situation where the Irish economy has an interest rate determined from Frankfurt that will never be determined in accordance with Ireland's interests. How is Ireland to solve that problem? I am not sure it can, because if the eurozone has one interest rate, that rate will always be just an average. In fact, it will probably be set with a view to what is best for the big countries, France and Germany. I see no easy way out of that. In ten, 20 or 30 years time, irrespective of whether Ireland chooses to join the federation of European states or whatever proposal Mr. Barroso has in mind, it will still be left with the problem of what to do when monetary policy is dealt with somewhere else.

Ireland dealt with this problem previously, at a time when it was in monetary union with the United Kingdom as an independent country. It solved the problem by issuing its own currency and having its own interest rate. I wonder if that is the solution to the problem Ireland now faces, but I am sure it is not popular among the political establishment.

I was surprised to find myself in agreement with almost everything Deputy Crowe said. I suspect we come from slightly different political traditions.