Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not want to labour the point but much of what has been said about the policy situation is incorrect. I refer to the spin that robust tests were initiated by the current Government and that these are new. These were initiated long before the current Government came into office. We all know about the pillar banks and we all knew about the rationalisation of banks. That was clearly going to happen once the robust tests had taken place.

Why has the Government's position changed on the harmonisation of the common consolidated tax base? It has changed to one of constructive and active engagement. The impact of the common consolidated tax base in Ireland would be devastating. It would be worse than simply increasing the corporate tax rate, which I do not agree with, having been a former Minister with responsibility for employment. Is this because the Tánaiste is teeing up the prospect of having to put something on the table to get an interest rate reduction? I thought my speech was constructive and it should not have been depressing. Irish people have put a great deal on the table. We accepted enormous debt obligations in the interest of protecting the common currency. It is in the interest of protecting the common currency, and not of Ireland, that we have done this. We adopted a deep and profound fiscal retrenchment. We put politics to one side to do what is right and not what is expedient. When we were doing what was right for the past two years, we were pilloried left, right and centre by the parties of the current Government and others. This applied to what we did about banks, deficit reductions, budgets and measures that were described as savage. Within a couple of weeks, people were able to say that they accepted all of this and adopted it as policy. I do not mind that, other than the fact that it is deeply cynical and hypocritical and has created problems in terms of doing what needs to be done to ensure economic recovery. We have put a great deal on the table and the notion that the German finance minister and others have intimated that we must put more on the table to get a rational position of a reduction in the interest rate, is unacceptable. The IMF said yesterday that there was an urgent need for a reduction in interest rates across all the mechanisms to support Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

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