Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As Deputy Ó Cuív noted, a meeting of Heads of State and Government will be held next Sunday and various technical and high level official meetings are being held beforehand, including a meeting of eurozone finance Ministers on Friday and a meeting of the EU 27 group of finance Ministers on Saturday. Considerable work is being done to prepare proposals for consideration at Sunday's meeting. The President of the European Commission, Mr. Barroso, has stated we must consider a number of issues together to develop a comprehensive plan. The elements of the so-called five point plan are: a decisive response to the Greek situation; constructing firewalls to prevent contagion; addressing the issue of adequate capital and funding for European banks; pursuing sound economic and fiscal policies; and the framework for economic governance. In advance of the meeting, it is too early to speak about how the Government will respond to the proposals as they are still being developed.

We have said on a number of occasions that Ireland is not Greece and, therefore, different circumstances apply to us. Consider, for example, the range of measures Greece is required to implement. The Government has a good track record in this regard. It succeeded in achieving a significant reduction in the interest rate applying to our loans, even though that had not been agreed to at the first meeting which took place in March. We have to work to seek a resolution of the difficulties facing the euro, including the issues that have arisen affecting Greece. The approach the Government will take will be in the best interests of the people.

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