Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

-----and economic models but consideration of the impact on the lives of people seems to be beyond it. It seems to be oblivious to this. Based on the fact that from next September or October there will be new management in the ECB, I can only hope that its having a president from a country that is economically weaker than that of the current president will bring a different perspective to bear on matters.

An opportunity was lost to the Government regarding the overall debate on our interest rate and fiscal package in that it did not flex any muscles in the selection of the new president in the pursuit of a lower interest rate or better deal. Given that President Sarkozy attempted last Thursday night to block the appointment so there would not be a replacement Italian on the executive board, an opportunity might have been missed. There was a wide-open goal in terms of the need to have unanimity in the appointment of a new president of the ECB. If we are serious about flexing our muscles and getting the interest rate deal sorted once and for all, we must wonder whether we missed an opportunity. If we are serious about the reform of the ECB - many countries throughout the eurozone, not just those subject to ECB programmes, have views on this - we must conclude an opportunity was lost in this regard also.

If the Commission is to produce a framework, it should work hand in glove, in a good way, with the ECB. There has been considerable disagreement between the Commission and the ECB in their approach to bondholders and subordinated debt. I cede to Deputy Mathews' knowledge on this issue. There has been huge divergence between the Commission and the ECB on fiscal and monetary policy. There is no sense in producing a crisis response framework when these two institutions are pulling in different directions; it would be like sending out members of a tug-of-war team to pull against each other. Unfortunately, the rope they are pulling is made up of our people, the people of Europe and those affected by the various rescue plans.

I am also concerned about the Government's response to the situation in Greece. The first of the votes was passed this afternoon with further votes to follow. Last weekend, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, was quite blasé on RTE Radio One about the Greek programme. He stated it would be passed but he expressed the view of many that the actual implementation of what is being voted on in Athens today is quite a different matter, and that the relationship between Greek taxation policy and its implementation is not the same as it is here. Many commentators, approximately 99% of them at this stage, suggest the plan will not work and that we will be back to the drawing board in Greece. The default issue is a very live conversation.

Other Ministers were also slightly blasé about this and its impact on Ireland. I accept that we are not Greece and if the Minister, Deputy Noonan, had supplied the t-shirts he promised we would all be wearing them today. However, we share a common currency zone with Greece and if there are issues with the payment of Greek loans or debts, it will impact on Ireland whether we like it or not. This is the world in which we live.

The contention of the Minister at the weekend that the Greek crisis is a matter for the big economies and will not impact on Ireland is simply wrong. I hope he stated it merely to calm the troops and to keep everybody assured but I got the impression no plan is in place in the event of a Greek bad debt situation happening this week or in the coming months. On Sunday evening, I challenged the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, on this and he was relatively blasé about it, although given his history in speaking about Europe I would not blame him for being relatively shy.

The Government needs to have a plan in place in the event of a Greek default because it will impact on us no matter how much work is done by the House or the Government or what burden the people of the country take. This needs to be considered in the context of the Bill.

We cannot have debate about banking or banking resolutions without referring to banks lending to SMEs. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, is doing much work on this issue. Every Deputy in the House knows about this. We can have all the credit review reports and banking reports in the world but I am sure all Deputies in the House have had a good business person with a solid idea speaking to them who has either had an overdraft pulled overnight, been forced to move that overdraft into a very overpriced loan or been refused good facilities. As we move towards an ECB meeting next Thursday, when interest rates will increase, I appeal to the Government to act urgently on the mortgage issue. Enough solid ideas are floating around from every side of the House and beyond to present a resolution mechanism. We cannot speak about credit institution resolution unless we deal with these two elephants in the room.

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