Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I stated on Second Stage and again today, there is acknowledgement that these criteria are outdated yet we are enshrining them in law. That is a failure, in terms of the negotiations that have happened and the agreement that has been reached, to reach an agreement that was fit for purpose in today's age.

It is interesting the example the Minister cited in terms of an earthquake. That may be the case and we will tease that out a little further. For those who are looking for this type of credit line, it is likely in the main that they will have used their own resources. In accessing it, we would, more than likely, be in a downturn.

Let us go on to the second criterion, because there is not only one criterion in terms of the excessive deficit procedure that they must reach. As I said, during a financial crash, only two countries would be eligible for this credit line if that were to happen. Let us look at the second criterion of not exceeding the 3% deficit of GDP. The general government deficit is exceeded by 3% in 25 member states. That means that, currently, if there was an earthquake, to take the Minister's example, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and we in Ireland, regardless of the size of the earthquake, would all be locked out of this line of credit.