Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank all members for their questions, which I will handle in order. I thank Senator Leyden for raising many different issues. I compliment him on his continued focus on international issues.

In regard to Palestine, I respectfully take a different view from the Senator. The European Union has done a great deal of work to ensure our investment programmes in the Middle East, and specifically within Palestine, are focused on assisting the peace process in that region and supporting the various communities. The Tánaiste has taken every opportunity, at the Foreign Affairs Council and in all of his bilateral meetings with leaders of other member states, to continue to press the case for progress in the Middle East and ensuring all parties do what they can to build a more prosperous and peaceful future for the people of the region. In that vein, I welcome the discussions currently under way and the role therein of the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry. We all hope that initiative will have a successful conclusion.

I thank the Senator for acknowledging the focus we have placed on Turkey. I agree with him that the Union's relationship with Turkey is of enormous importance and sends out the clearest possible signals to the rest of the world in terms of how different cultures can interact with each other. That is why we prioritised the issue during our Presidency. We hope the progress that has taken place following the opening of the Chapter 22 process will be maintained.

Likewise, in regard to Cyprus, we want to see the United Nations sponsored discussions, which recently resumed, delivering a comprehensive solution to the issue to which the Senator referred. We continue to urge Turkey to play a positive role in developing better relationships with Cyprus. Again, what we are seeing is that discussions and negotiations with a particular country regarding its relationship with the European Union afford the perfect opportunity to raise these types of issues.

I completely agree with the first point Deputy Eric Byrne made. I have referred on previous occasions to the large number of telephone calls I received last summer from constituents asking what we proposed to do in the event of a break-up of the eurozone. The points the Deputy made regarding gold and silver, sterling and the dollar are issues I discussed with concerned constituents. We should acknowledge that during that particular period, when things looked very bad for the euro, reasonable people were concerned that the currency was on a vicious and irreversible downward spiral. Since then, however, several extremely important developments have occurred, including the intervention by the Governor of the European Central Bank, Mr. Draghi, which brought clarity to the role of that institution, and the very strong public leadership and tough decisions taken by all member states to show their support not just for the survival of the euro, but for its future prosperity. Like the Deputy, I am relieved that the collapse of the currency is no longer being discussed every day on the radio as an imminent prospect. I was always of the view - the Deputy shares that view, as I understand it - that there was an underestimation by certain commentators from afar of the commitment of member states to the currency and their determination to ensure its survival and prosperity. There was a collective determination to avoid the disastrous consequences of a collapse of the euro, but also an awareness that a strong currency offers the best opportunity for all members of the EU to do what they do best, allow businesses to flourish and ensure people, young and old, can secure employment and live the lives they wish to live.

On the Deputy's question regarding a global positioning system, work is taking place across many member states to develop a new system called Galileo. That is a major priority which flows directly from agreements reached under the multi-annual financial framework. The Deputy is right to observe that in many countries - he mentioned the United States, but it is also the case in Israel - the scale of their defence industries generates technologies that are subsequently used in a very different way within the civil science sector. We are seeing a renewed focus within Europe to ensure member states work together to develop technologies and undertake research of the right critical mass to lead to that type of work. What that in mind, I congratulate the University of Limerick on its ambition in working to attract additional world-class professors to its campus. The announcement today is fantastic and very encouraging.

As the Deputy noted, the Eastern Partnership summit, which both the Taoiseach and I will attend, will take place at the end of November. It is a mark of our continued recognition - shared by all political parties in the country - of the importance of a strong neighbourhood policy to ensure countries across the centre and into the east of Europe are benefiting from the types of opportunities membership of the Union has offered to many other countries across the Continent, including our own. In this regard, I acknowledge the role of my predecessor and the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade leading up to the conference which marked ten years since Thessaloniki, which Deputy Bernard Durkan and I attended before the summer. This country has always shown a strong commitment in that area, and it was something we wished to prioritise during the Presidency .

In regard to Ukraine, the Deputy will be interested to know that I had a meeting this morning with the Ukrainian ambassador. It was a very positive bilateral engagement during which we discussed significant improvements and developments within our respective countries and the forthcoming partnership summit in Vilnius.

On the questions regarding Spain and Italy, the Deputy will appreciate that it is not for the Government to involve itself in discussions concerning other countries and any decisions they might make regarding their own future, in the same way as we would have grave concerns if any other Government sought to do the same to us. I have seen at first hand the major work the Spanish Government is doing to address the problems afflicting its economy and the opportunities it would wish to exploit. It is making very strong progress in that regard. Likewise, I acknowledge the excellent work being done by the Italian Government, led by the Prime Minister, Mr. Letta, to address the challenges and opportunities that country is facing.

Deputy Seán Kyne referred to discussions on our planned exit from the bailout programme. The Government made clear at the start of the week that we have as yet made no decisions in this regard. For now we are evaluating all options. At the same time, we have a very clear process in mind, the first part of which was delivery of the budget for 2014. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has indicated that in the run-up to the 12th troika inspection, which will take place in the coming months, we will be examining the choices that are open to us to ensure we achieve a sustainable return to the financial markets.

On the question of how other countries participating in an external aid programme are faring, I have already referred to the very strong decisions being taken by fellow member states in that regard.

On the question of banking union, we continue to believe that a very strong banking union is an essential element ensuring that our currency and economy prosper into the future.

It is essential in moving towards breaking the link between the difficulties of the sovereign and those of the banking system. This is about coming up with a sustainable framework for dealing with banks that are failing and then putting in place the right regulatory framework.

On the Deputy's specific question on the impact on our economy if such a system had been in place for the past decade, I have no doubt that what he said would be the case. If a pan-European regulatory framework had been in place at that time it would have been evident that there was a difficulty and it would have been apparent for two reasons. First, it would have been able to identify and prioritise the capital flows across borders from one bank to another at the time. That would have been evident to a pan-European regulator because it would have been regulating a far broader breadth of banks. It would have been possible to identify those banks that posed a systemic threat not only to our health but to that of the broader European economy.

On the Deputy's question on whether a referendum will be required, we know and are confident that the existing treaty framework will allow a robust banking union to be put in place. The country specific recommendations will focus on the main economic and social policy areas. The process will consist of the Commission making recommendations in those areas to ensure that national economies and societies can take advantage of all the resources they have. It will focus on labour market activation, recommendations on the development of European priorities, European infrastructure and so on. We will be engaging in the European semester process for the first time when we make our successful exit form the external aid programme later this year.