Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Taoiseach. Yesterday, President Van Rompuy mentioned the possibility of an emergency summit on Friday. I agree with the Taoiseach that this will only be helpful if the leaders of Europe take the "in principle" agreements reached between the Finance Ministers last Monday. They must act on what has been a substantive and profound shift in approach to the crisis taken by European leaders because of the threat of contagion to Italy and Spain. We must turn those agreements into concrete actions at such a summit.

The spread of the bond market crisis to Spain and Italy is quite similar to what has happened in other countries, including Ireland. That is down to an abject failure at European level to nail down a comprehensive policy. In advance of any meeting - and what we hope will finally be action on debt sustainability, pricing and a reduction in the interest rate - will the Taoiseach, in the interest of clarity and at this critical time in terms of our strategy, publish the offer that was made to the Government by President Van Rompuy at the meeting on 11 March? I have asked about this before and it is important in terms of transparency in order to give us an insight into Mr. Van Rompuy's thinking back then in seeking to resolve this issue for Ireland and his thinking on the broader crisis. It is in the best interests of everyone that the text of the offer by Mr. Van Rompuy be published.

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