Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. The Minister is sitting down and saying that we will get it right the next time around and we will look at these ratios - that were not fit for purpose - and they will be changed. There is no doubt about it. The European Stability Mechanism, ESM, is already calling for that ratio of debt to GDP to be increased to 100%.

On the answer to the question I put to the Minister, I am sure he could do this on the back of an envelope. If the debt-to-GDP ratio in Italy is currently running just shy of 160%, that is 100% above the target in these rules to be able to access the credit line. The criterion for Italy to access the credit line is that it would have to reduce its portion of debt that is above the 60% by one twentieth. This means that in each of two years, Italy would have to reduce its debt by 5% in one year and 5% in the next year. Over a 24 month period Italy would have to reduce its debt by 10%. I have used Italy as an example, but it could be Ireland, France or Spain. It does not matter. If a downturn came and a country needed to access the credit line, that is the type of criterion. It is likely, as was said, that a country would be in a downturn at that point in time, although there are unique circumstances such as the Minister has pointed out, like natural disasters. It is likely that a country would be in a downturn at that time. The idea of having to forcibly reduce debt at that scale of 10% over two years, to be able to access the precautionary credit line, basically makes it inaccessible to countries other than the promise that it may change in the future.

In my time in the Oireachtas I have never seen a situation where we are passing legislation with very clear rules and strict conditions while actually saying "Well do not mind that because we are going to change all of that or we may change that in the future, and if we change that in the future then this will change also." We must look at what is in front of us now and how it applies now to EU member states.