Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This time last week, prior to the trip to Brussels for the summit, I raised the issue of whether the Taoiseach would make a statement or enter into discussion in the Dáil on his intentions at the summit, particularly in respect of the eurozone and Greece. Where this country commits a certain amount of money for the Greek bailout, which we understand to be €250 million, it is imperative that there is some discussion in this House prior to that move. In the future can we adopt the same position adopted by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs whereby the Minister for Foreign Affairs comes before the Joint Committee on European Affairs? The Taoiseach should come before a plenary session of the House prior to the summit where important decisions are being made, important positions are to be taken by the Government and commitments are made in respect of finance. The Taoiseach should give the House some opportunity to hear his position and his intentions and give Members the opportunity to express views on the matter.

The target of 25% poverty reduction by 2020 is the subject of non-governmental organisations throughout Europe exercising the citizens' initiative. They are collecting 1 million signatures in order to put it on the agenda for the Commission. Is it not desirable that over the next ten years, from now to 2020, the national reform programme includes that as one of our targets and objectives? We should include in it a statement on overseas development aid and whether we would meet the target. We have less than 0.5% at the present time despite having had a commitment to 0.7%. We should at least include that in the 2020 strategy.

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