Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

I am not getting a direct answer to my question. The Minister keeps talking about the ESM which has been agreed to in the European Union but does not exist in Irish law. Many things have been agreed to in the European Union but have changed in subsequent months. There is no guarantee that the ESM will come into law across all EU Parliaments. I am asking the Minister whether a change in the law would be required in Ireland to extend the remit of the EFSF to issue bonds after June 2013. I suggest that if Germany decides the ESM cannot go ahead, European leaders will decide instead to tinker with the institution already in place or make it into something more credible or similar to the ESM. In this way they would get around the right of the German people to have a constitutional referendum. Does the sunset clause of the EFSF require a decision in this Parliament? The reason I am asking is this: if it were able to issue bonds after June 2013 and we were to come out of the programme at that time, the liability in the Bill could be called upon.

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