Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The fund of €55 billion seems small in comparison with the banking sector, which throughout Europe is worth €33 trillion. We would like a good share of this €55 billion for retroactive recapitalisation. Deputy McGrath touched on the asset quality review that will be conducted with regard to stress testing. The banks have not been informed of the exact terms of the asset quality review. We understand new criteria will be used by Europe for this asset quality review which may not have been used in the asset quality review that took place in our banks last year, particularly as trading assets and not just loan assets will come under the review. How many of our financial institutions will come under the EU stress test and the asset quality review?

The growth strategy for Europe is on the agenda. Last year the Minister announced that growth for this year would be between 2% and 2.3%. We are approaching our stability programme update. Is there anything in the conclusions to be reached at the ECOFIN meeting next Tuesday, or anything else in the Irish economy, that would lead the Minister to increase the level of growth he sees in the Irish economy in 2014 or the opposite?