Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I will take all of that. I thank the Acting Chairman.

Outside the House, the leader of the Socialist Party, Joe Higgins, hit the nail on the head when he said in The Irish Times that either Deputy Kenny did not know what he was talking about during the Lisbon treaty referendum when he asked the people to vote "Yes" or he is deceiving them now. I would plump for the latter explanation because he was right about the Lisbon treaty.

We had another example of that willingness by the leading Opposition party in a contribution made by Deputy Mitchell in which she made the point that somehow or other Ireland was paying more than its fair share into the Greek package. That is not the case. The proportions which I gave were established at a time when Fine Gael and the Labour Party had some involvement in Government. Regrettably, this is not the first occasion on which Fine Gael has dropped its proud European stance to play the populist card. Doing so for short term gain, if that is the motive, is a very dangerous game. We all know how dangerous it is because it undermines public confidence in our membership of the European Union and that is regretted.

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