Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

Given the Minister's lengthy responses, I anticipate that we will not get to most of the amendments. Therefore I propose to draw his attention to some specific issues. Section 4 of the Bill provides for an annual report on the loan facility to be given by the Minister to Dáil Éireann. However, Article 10.3 of the inter-creditor agreement, as set out in Schedule 1, provides that: "The Commission shall report to the Lenders on the outstanding claims and liabilities under the Loan Facility Agreement on a quarterly basis." It would be entirely consistent for the Minister to report to the Dáil on a quarterly basis. That report should provide, in addition to aggregate information, specific information relating to the individual loan given to Greece by Ireland, the terms and conditions thereof, the amount outstanding on specific loans, the redemption schedule, the interest rate payable by the borrower, the funding cost to the State and so on.

These proposals are set out in amendments Nos. 3,4, 6,7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17. I note amendments Nos. 3 and 17 are grouped. It is unlikely we will get to discuss these reasonable amendments in any great depth, but I hope the Minister will take them on board. As I said, the report from the European Commission under Article 10.3 of the inter-creditor agreement is provided on a quarterly basis. It makes sense that the Minister would report to the Dáil within two weeks of receipt of that report rather than merely reporting on a yearly basis.

There does not seem to be any provision in the inter-creditor agreement, as set out in Schedule 1, to provide for a situation where there is not unanimity among member states. Yet there is a requirement for unanimity, under Article 4.2, on each tranche of the loan to be paid to Greece. What will happen if unanimity is not achieved? Article 2.7 of the inter-creditor agreement provides that the parties may "at any time unanimously decide to extend the Availability Period" and to increase the commitments. However, from what I can see, the additional loan facility will come entirely from the KfW in Germany. Will the Minister clarify that?

See this speech in context