Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 October 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach

Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals

2:00 am

Photo of Shay BrennanShay Brennan (Dublin Rathdown, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate that but it is an increase in EU debt. It is on the EU's balance sheet. I know there is another side to it.

As a parting comment, my concern is not about a default of a single nation. Like I said, I believe the EU is there to support a single nation if it gets into financial difficulty for whatever reasons. It is systematic risk. If the worst-case scenario happens here and a nation has to default because it is invaded or there is a war situation, it is quite likely that is not just going to affect one nation. It is quite likely that whatever causes that nation to default will mean contagion for other nations. It is likely that regardless of what the cause is, it is also going to apply to other nations. While it would be a black swan event, it would be quite a serious one. If that were to occur, individual countries would have difficulties in meeting their obligations to the €150 billion, I would imagine. Where would that leave the overall EU project financially?

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