Professor Frank Barry:

I wish to address one of the points raised. The process of dealing with the Greek crisis has been incredibly politicised. I suspect Mr. McCarthy might agree that in many ways it would have been better if the European institutions were not involved with this and if it was actually just determined by the IMF. The IMF is well used to making these decisions. It advocated in 2010 that a Greek haircut should be imposed. We know what the IMF advocated here at the time of our bailout. The whole process and the participation of the European institutions has made the whole thing messier. The IMF might well be able to go in now and state it will impose a haircut on Greece's creditors but this would not necessarily be extended to Ireland. This is how the IMF might well resolve the political difficulties faced by the Irish Government and other governments in feeling unable to adhere to this type of outcome. We all understand the constellation of political factors in Ireland which caused the Irish Government to take the decisions it has. Perhaps the way out is for the IMF to deal with these issues, if it were prepared to do so.