Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

----- not just for this country but throughout the euro area where one has seen changes regarding spreads. That is a fact of the situation. We are prepared to work with others - with our counterparts in the euro area - to see in what way we can help address that issue and help to normalise market conditions. From our point of view, it is not appropriate to suggest that we are doing anything other than protecting our interests and ensuring that our national interests are understood. We will work constructively with people on that basis as part of our international obligation as part of a euro area that is wider than our own jurisdiction as we know and that is what we are doing. For people to be coming to conclusions about those discussions before the conclusions have even been reached as we speak does not serve our interests in any way either because there has been far too much speculation on those matters. While I am not saying it is anybody in this House, there are some who have been involved in those sorts of public positions being taken, who perhaps are not exactly disinterested themselves in what might emerge in terms of what they could get out of it.

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