Mr. Colm McCarthy:

Yes. It is unhelpful in a political negotiation for the various people involved, including people in the Eurogroup and some of the Greek politicians, to have resorted so quickly to hyperbole, which does not move matters forward.

In 2010, when Mr. Varoufakis was teaching in the University of Athens, he wrote a piece stating he thought the 2010 deal was silly. He thought the debt was unsustainable then and that the deal simply relabelled some Greek sovereign debt, which was a dodgy asset in various French and German banks, as a liability of taxpayers. In other words, he objected to the 2010 deal along the lines outlined by me, Professor Barry and numerous other people, including those on all sides of the political spectrum. Whether the deal was more offensive to socialists or capitalists, it is hard to tell. Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to Mr. Varoufakis's interview in the New Statesmanduring the week, which was very interesting. It might have been a bit self-serving since he was the only witness. Some of the details are amazing, such as the fact no minutes were taken. He was quoted somewhere else as stating the fact he criticised the May 2010 deal upset many people, on the basis that in politics one will always be forgiven for being wrong but one will never be forgiven for being right. Many people did not-----