Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my late arrival. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. I have had to deal with Tibet and China this morning and have just left a very fine meal, with some accompanying German wine, because of the presence of a delegation from South Korea. I think the wine was from the Mosel region. I have not had a chance to read my briefing notes so I will direct three questions to the delegation.

Our Taoiseach is in Greece conveying a very important message to the Greeks about what we in this country are doing about extracting ourselves from the bailout. As we were one of the first countries to receive a bailout, it was extremely difficult for us to absorb the banking debt as part of the sovereign responsibility. Do the delegates support the agreement at the July meeting of the Heads of State to separate banking debts from sovereign debts?

The delegates are aware of Ireland's absolute commitment to the European project, unlike our neighbours in England. Germany has a population of 82 million; we have a population of 4.5 million. Does the delegation appreciate that we are a coalition Government - analogous to that between Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party, which is similar to our Labour Party - and that our obligation to implement the programme of austerity, particularly as social democrats, has been extraordinarily difficult? Do they think Germany will recognise that while the previous Government made disastrous policy decisions, we are now carrying a very heavy political burden? Will Germany join with us in sharing the burden?