Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

So the Taoiseach is not going to publish it.

The delay in the deal to take account of the stress tests was reasonable, but given the fact that the stress tests and subsequent Government banking announcement were indistinguishable from expectations and existing policy, the failure to conclude a deal in March is inexplicable.

Beyond the fact that the Government has halved the value of what it is looking for from an interest rate deal, what is equally worrying is the weakened text to which the Taoiseach agreed on Thursday. In March, a reduction was recognised as a prerequisite for debt sustainability, yet on Thursday the Taoiseach agreed that debt sustainability would be achieved simply through the implementation of the current programme. The Taoiseach needs to explain this serious development.

The process for appointing the President of the European Central Bank managed to completely ignore the crisis, of which the bank sits at the very centre. It has been Ireland's position since November that burning bank bondholders is an essential step. It was vetoed in November and the ECB continues to veto it, while issuing implied threats and refusing to provide a secure medium-term commitment to funding. Mario Draghi's attitude to this issue has been unhelpful and his casual dismissal of Ireland's reaffirmed wish to burn certain bondholders was unacceptable. He should not have been nodded through over dinner. The failure to discuss any reform of the bank is incredible. Just as importantly, the behaviour of France and Italy in effectively claiming proprietorial rights over seats on the executive council did much to confirm the idea of a bank which treats the periphery as a nuisance rather than as a core concern.

I hope someone from the Government will communicate to the ECB that its policy of aggressive anonymous briefings against member states must be stopped. The statement by the Minister for Finance on Sunday that the ECB would understand what he meant, "because a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse", perhaps suggests that it is time to arrange for a more direct system of communication.

The agreement to move to final accession procedures for Croatia is welcome and overdue. The Council failed to note its role in reaching out to an increasingly sceptical Croatian public, something I hope will be taken up by Foreign Ministers. I welcome the Council's commitment to greater sanctions on the Syrian regime and the implication in its briefings that the Union stands ready to make significant steps to aid the people of Syria. I also want to acknowledge what appears to have been a positive intervention from the Taoiseach on the situation in Bahrain.

In the context of the wider issue of support for the new or potential democracies in the Arab world, the summit was disappointing. What we need is to show our deep and long-term commitment to the development of civic society, democracy and broad economic development in these countries. This requires a significant new initiative, a dedicated staff and extra resources. The Mediterranean and neighbourhood policies were designed for a different time and different challenges. No one is as well placed as Europe to help people who have created unprecedented opportunity through their bravery in recent months. It is time to show more substance in supporting them.

I remain a strong believer in the European Union and its ideals. I am very proud to lead the party which brought Ireland into the Union, the party which led the final process of enlarging the Union to include millions of people who had suffered for decades under communist dictatorships, and the party in government which ran a number of Presidencies ranked among the most successful ever. However, I reserve the right to be critical of its leaders and to point to serious failings in its actions.

I think the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, is wrong in the way she has sought to portray my comments and those of others as being negative or ignoring huge progress. I think she should reflect again on her recent comment to the Institute of European Affairs that "joining the EC in 1973 was an act of nation-building with arguably more tangible positive benefits for Ireland's independence than the 1916 Rising". It is not necessary to diminish the absolutely fundamental role of 1916 for this State in order to express support for the EU, and I hope we will not be hearing this line again.

This is Europe's moment of truth, but it remains unclear how it will emerge from it. This summit has not provided the confidence-building momentum which was so badly needed. The Greek issue is in hand but not finalised. Ireland's interest rate reduction is at best frozen and at worse a step backwards. Contagion remains an issue.

In this circumstance, the worst thing the leaders of Europe could do would be to continue to muddle through, hope something shows up, wait until the next summit and once again go through the motions. Now is the time to stop prevaricating, seize the problem and demonstrate to the people of Europe that the ideals of this Union are alive, are relevant and are a match for the problems we now face.

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