Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I agree it was not an act of divine mercy that this was given to us, it was part of a loan package and Ireland has a responsibility to repay loans and we will do that if we are given sufficient flexibility and some extra tools. The universal social charge has been looked at by Government and we have already said in the programme for Government that we will review it before the budget for 2012.

At the conclusion of the eurozone meeting there was an agreement that there should be interest rate reductions for those within the EFSF package. Ireland is the only country in the package at the moment; the Greek Government is not part of it, so a 1% reduction was extended to it and the time extended to seven and a half years for its loans. From that point of view, the principle has been accepted that there can be a reduction of interest rates, which is part of what needs to happen in respect of Ireland's position. It was not possible to reach agreement at the last meeting of eurozone heads of Government and the matter is still being discussed.

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