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

The Deputy is familiar with the sequence of events. There was an election in Greece, which Syriza, the main opposition party, won. It quickly formed a government, and a cabinet was put in place. Then the Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance embarked on a diplomatic initiative around Europe and visited the bigger countries, in particular, while representatives of the various European groups visited Athens. For example, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the Eurogroup, went to Athens. The Deputy will have seen newspaper reports of the various bilateral meetings that took place.

What is not clear at this stage is what the Greeks will ask. We know in general terms from the election campaign what they require, but they have not specifically put a request on the table. The Irish position is that we do not favour write-offs. Write-offs or write-downs will put a hole in the balance sheets of all 28 member states. There are other ways of meeting the objectives without writing off the capital amounts on the balance sheets. Beyond that, I will listen to the Greek proposals and treat them on their merits. The Irish Government has great sympathy for the Greek people and we hope that proposals will come forward that will help to bridge the gap that was clearly emerging between the larger European countries and the new Greek Government in the bilateral dialogues that took place last week, as reported in the business and political newspapers.