Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I welcome Ms McVeigh and her colleagues. I have a couple of points. What is the possibility that this will never come to pass? Given all the deliberations that take place in Europe, the fact that within the 11 countries there does not appear to be agreement, the various legal challenges and the fact that the discussions are still ongoing, what are the chances this may not come to pass? There is a view that this has come about because of the financial sector and it should make a fair contribution to the cost of the crisis. I understood that the bank resolution mechanism at European level was the mechanism under which the banks were supposed to make a contribution to the crisis. Is this measure not already being catered for under the European project to address banks and the resolution mechanism? Will Ms McVeigh deal with that point?

I note that France and Italy have gone ahead of the pack. What rates are they charging at the moment for financial transaction taxes? It appears that the empirical evidence or research to which Ms McVeigh referred has not really been carried out in Europe yet. Could Ms McVeigh give an indication of which countries make up the group of 11? I know the headline countries but could she give us a complete list of the 11 which make up the enhanced co-operation countries?