Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It seems that what Deputy Martin wants to do is to increase the level of what was deemed to be a Gallic spat to an all-out war. Things have changed since last February. The first thing that happened was that the Government had a look at the agreement that was reached by the Deputy's own Government and the troika, and set about renegotiating elements of it within the constraints of the overall deal in order to improve the lot of Ireland by obtaining agreement on the reversal of the cut in the minimum wage and obtaining approval for a limited jobs initiative and for the comprehensive spending analysis that is currently under way. That is very different from what applied prior to February of this year. The result of those negotiations has been confirmation from the troika itself, the IMF, Olli Rehn, Christine Lagarde and a whole range of others of Ireland's case for a reduction of interest, which was approved in principle at the meeting of the heads of Government and devolved to the Ministers for finance, and also confirmation that Ireland is now on the right track.

What I discovered in the context of other things was that the relationship of this country with our European partners was nothing short of disgraceful. The reason for that-----

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