Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

To go further on the question of our interests, earlier the Minister said he was against debt write-downs. Is that just debt write-downs for Greece or is the Minister against them for Ireland, if they were to be offered, or if we were to get them if we asked for them, or is it debt write-downs only for tremendously rich private individuals paid for by the taxpayer and not for the country? Is it not the case that our interests coincide with the interests of ordinary people in Greece? We have similar targets on primary surplus from the troika and the EU institutions. We spend a similar percentage of gross domestic product, GDP, on our interest on our debt every year. We have similar high levels of debt, although the Greek debt is higher. Do we not have a common interest, within that framework, of lower primary surplus targets and reduced debt?