Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I listened to the Deputy put a series of statements on the record that are simply false. I did not interrupt the Deputy once and I would be grateful if he could display the same courtesy. I will make my points and he can make his points. That is how we work in this House.

The lessons from Greece are for us all. Failing to deal with the crisis in Greece in a timely way has made the situation worse. Failing to deal with the crisis in Ireland, such as not dealing with bloated public expenditure, would make the situation infinitely worse. I would agree with the Deputy if the only area for public expenditure was capital investment in programmes that create jobs, but that is not the case. In Ireland's case, economic pundits and political parties, especially the Labour Party, have been saying that we could put off dealing with our public finances, but they should look at what happened in Greece. The impact of the Greek financial crisis has had a knock-on effect on the whole eurozone. If the Greek economy had been allowed to go under, it would have had a domino effect and that would have destroyed other economies in Europe. One of the economies that would have been destroyed is the Irish economy.

We are a trading nation. We have a particular interest in seeing off the challenges to the euro, especially the speculative challenges to the euro. Safeguarding financial stability in the eurozone remains essential for Ireland.

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