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

I believe Deputy Boyd Barrett's analysis is incorrect. I am not in favour of austerity. I finished austerity in Ireland in the last budget. We increased no taxes and imposed no further expenditure cuts. There is no austerity regime in this country. Austerity was a means to an end and we are all glad it is over. It is the same in every European country, whether in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy or Greece. There are governments of various shapes, sizes and colours all over Europe and many of them would not fit into what one particular country would regard as the model government, but we work with everybody, and so do the institutions. The trouble about Jonathan Hill or me answering the Deputy's question is, first, that I am not party to the details of the negotiations, because they are not being carried out at a political level.