Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The previous Government made legal commitments which we cannot resile from. It would not be in the interests of the country to do so because resiling from those arrangements would put us in a default position. Default is not part of our policy and in the absence of a default we are negotiating a better position for Ireland.

The Deputy mentioned the German authority. It is quite clear from the statement on 29 June and the joint communiqué from the Taoiseach and the Chancellor, that Germany is now fully cognisant of the special position of Ireland and that it is positioning policy to do something about that. It is also a condition, and always was since 29 June, that before there is a move on these matters the direct supervision of the European banking system must be put in place which will be done during the course of 2013.