Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have no intention of decrying the people of Greece, Portugal or their Governments, which are dealing with difficult situations. In so far as we are concerned, we want to focus on the difficulties that we have as a country and as a Government that is grappling to resuscitate an economy left in an atrocious mess by the previous Government. Be that as it may, the situation is that this will not happen, as the Deputy knows, unless negotiated agreements are reached. The fact of the matter is that the Ministers for finance will meet next Monday, these matters are on the agenda, we will be in discussion and negotiation with our counterparts in Europe up to and during that meeting and, hopefully, a conclusion can be reached.

I have not spoken to Mr. Juncker, who called the meeting in Luxembourg at short notice, nor have I spoken to any of the persons the Deputy mentioned and who are meeting tomorrow. All I can confirm to him is that I have spoken with our Minister for Finance and, on behalf of the Government, he has been delegated to continue these negotiations. An interest rate reduction in Ireland's case would obviously be very welcome and very necessary but, for us, we must look at that as one issue and continue to seek improvements in the overall bailout deal, as we have pointed out on many occasions.

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