Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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It is like arguments about what certain articles of the Constitution mean. I remember an experience when I was in the Department of Justice and I asked the Secretary General about what a particular article in the Constitution meant. He very succinctly answered that it meant whatever the Supreme Court decided it meant. It is the same with monetary financing. It is monetary financing if the ECB decides it is and is supported by the legal authorities. That is the position and it is the one we found ourselves in notwithstanding that we initially had a different view when we laid out the original draft. We take the advice now. The ECB says it is monetary financing and is supported by legal opinion to that effect. Our Attorney General does not challenge that opinion and, as such, we amend.