Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Could the Minister tell us who is the leader of the Irish team of negotiators? Broadly, what are their terms of reference and what is the template to which they are working? That comes back to Deputy Noonan's previous question. Two European funds can be accessed. Which fund does the Minister see the teams accessing? Presumably they are acting at his direction, or is it at the direction of the Taoiseach and his Department? We do not know. The Minister needs to tell the people of this country at whose direction the team is operating and which of the two European stabilisation mechanisms or stability funds they are approaching. Most importantly, what is the likely structure? In other words, we understand that the money is mostly for the banks.

Is the money an actual transfer for which we incur liability and interest, which is what I understand from what Professor Honohan has said? The Minister has used new terminology. He has called it a contingency fund. He often lectures me, deservedly, that there is a difference between Government accounting and ordinary financial accounting. I accept that. However, in ordinary financial accounting, a contingency is something that is available which one does not have to use unless it becomes necessary. Therefore, at the most, one pays a very small fee for it and one only pays 5.5%, for example, if one draws down the funds. What does the Minister's use of "contingency" mean in this case? That is a genuine question to which I would like an answer.

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