Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

First, Greece has not requested such an outcome. Should that eventuality occur, the European Central Bank and the European Commission would work out what conditionality they regard as appropriate and necessary which would then be put to the Council. Tables have been set out outlining the nature of our contribution. It would not be a question of each member state deciding what conditions it would put on such a loan. The Council, if it came to it, would then decide to formally adopt such a decision.

The point made after last week's meeting was about the nature of the mechanism and how it would work should it be required. Coming to the amounts involved and the conditionality, that will be based on a composite proposal by the ECB and the Commission to the Council for consideration.

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