Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I know that the truth hurts but a tiny bit of forbearance is needed. The European Central Bank, the IMF and various senior spokespersons from across the Union have made the point that the populist and uncomplicated line which has been taken by Fine Gael, namely, that everybody should be burned, is a nonsense policy.

I will return to the first point I made. The idea that European policy will be established within the EPP family is a facile approach to a debate of this importance in this country. It is ludicrous in the extreme to suggest the European Commission will be bid to do the wants of any individual party on this issue. It is undermining a position which Fine Gael has taken over all the years of our membership about protecting the independence of the Commission. To suggest that, somehow, the Commission can be undermined for political reasons is a policy, attitude and boast that will come back to haunt it.

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