Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Deputy Martin was part of an outfit that denied the IMF was in the country and part of a Government that caused a situation where greed, recklessness and lack of accountability resulted in a bailout deal being forced on this country by the IMF, the EU and the ECB because matters could not have continued as they were. They were out of control.

That bailout deal was agreed between the Government of which the Deputy was a member and the troika. The British, Swedish and Danish bilateral deals were not forced on this country in the same fashion as that in which the troika was obliged to act. My priority, therefore, clearly was, and remains, to deal with that and, in the context of the interest rate reduction, it was the only issue discussed at the meeting of the Heads of Government. The first person to speak was the Greek Prime Minister, who made a case for a 2% reduction, for a longer period, because of the challenges his country faced. Following that, there was an agreement in principle that countries in the European Financial Stability Facility, EFSF, were entitled to an interest rate reduction. I was not prepared to accept an interest rate reduction on the basis of being obliged to increase the country's corporation tax rate.

In respect of the conditions attached to the troika bailout, now renegotiated, Ireland measured up on the first assessment. We are rightly in pursuit of the principle accepted by the heads of government that there should be an interest rate reduction for the countries in the EFSF bailout situation. In that context, the IMF came to Ireland as part of that troika - with the resulting outcome. That situation was different from the bilateral loan arrangement offered by Britain, Sweden and Denmark which was not forced on the country. My priority was, and remains, to deal with the interest rate and gain improvements in the IMF-EU bailout. We spoke with the British Government and will continue to do so on a very regular basis.

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