Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

On the issue of bank debt write-down, I again reiterate for the benefit of Deputy Martin who chose not to listen to me when I answered his question that it is not a topic for discussion at this evening's Council meeting. The Deputy is entitled to disagree with that. The reality is that the Greek Government is not seeking private sector involvement in its debt and does not want a write-down of its debt. It would prefer to be in the same position as Ireland, whereby we have returned to a position of growth, emerged from recession and begun a serious effort at consolidating public spending and getting our economy back to a far more competitive position with a real prospect of returning to the financial markets in 18 months. That is our task.

Our position is not in any sense comparable to that of Greece, nor do we wish to be. The notion, suggested by Deputy Ross earlier, that Greece was somehow getting its way by being in a position in which it must be rescued by the rest of the European Union and particularly the eurozone is a fallacy. We do not aspire to being a position where our economy is so close to bankruptcy that we must be bailed out.

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