Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

All of them referred to the fact that discussions were taking place at official level on the euro area issues generally and in preparation for the meetings which are now taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday. That is the normal function of officials in the engagement which takes place between us and EU institutions and other member states.

The issue for us today arises out of the meeting at which were very ably represented by the Minister for Finance yesterday. As we have obligations under the euro currency regime we share our sovereignty with these countries. It is in every countries' interest that there be stability in the euro area and that we deal with the market dislocation which has taken place and the need to ensure that banks get access to the markets for the forms which they need in order to continue with the business of banking in this country. That is important and is what we are trying to address.

However, that is not to say, as suggested by Deputy Kenny, that the banking policies were catastrophic, far from it. Without those banking policies-----

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