Dr. Peter Rigney:

It could, but sometimes politics trumps economics. Arguably, Greece should never have been let in to the euro. People knew at the time that it would not be prudent to wager a month's salary on some of the figures being put up. I remember being in Greece at the time on union business. I was a member of the board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training in Thessaloniki. I remember landing in Thessaloniki Airport during the Balkan wars. Planes were dispersed. There were fighter planes on the ground, because a live war was under way up the road. There was a political reason that Greece was admitted to the euro. It was to show the western Balkans that there was a beacon of stability in the area, that is, the EU and the euro. There were probably some dutiful civil servants in the EU who said that the Union should not allow it because of the sums, but the politicians decided that was the way they would go. Politics trumps that.

Senator Leyden and Deputy O'Rourke referred to another point. I met a man from Ireland who met a man from Germany who was party to a meeting in Frankfurt with Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht or BaFin, the German banking regulator. BaFin representatives were meeting some people who were keen to flee the City of London. The BaFin representatives said to them that they wished them luck going to Dublin, because Dublin did not have the necessary housing, infrastructure or people.