Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Does the Tánaiste regret the comment he made during the general election campaign - this is in the context of the summit and the resolution of the Irish debt problem - that it was Frankfurt's way or the Labour Party's way? We now know that the bondholders have not been burned. There has been no unilateral action in regard to them. If anything, it seems the notion that Ireland must give something before it receives something in return is gaining momentum. As I said, that is a fundamentally flawed perspective on the part of our European colleagues. There was a deeply cynical approach to all of these issues in the year or two years before the general election campaign, during which people were led to believe there could be a unilateral burning of bondholders and that it was our way rather than anybody else's.

There should be a restructuring and it should be done at European level. My criticism of the summit is very much that there was a clear failure in terms of finding a solution. There are fundamental difficulties across Europe in terms of the electoral position in Finland, Germany and France, the fundamental driver of the behaviour of the French President and the German Chancellor, as well as the other countries which are reluctant to look at the big picture in resolving the issues facing the European Union. All of the problems are interdependent; they are not just Irish problems. There is a fundamental lack of leadership at European level which is undermining the European vision and the Union itself.

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