Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I disagree with Deputy Boyd Barrett's last point. Every country is entitled to conduct its business in its own way. It was not that the Greek Prime Minister called for a referendum that upset others, it was the delay and the consequent confusion and uncertainty arising from that. Markets do not hang around to make their judgments. There was certainty and clarity following the meeting and the decisions that were arrived at, which was reflected in the market response. This was thrown into turmoil and confusion by the fact that there would be a referendum sometime in the new year in Greece. It was not that they were concerned about the way Greece was to do its business, as is the right of the Greek citizens, it was the delay that was going to cause further confusion and turmoil.

In respect of discussions on protests, in the course of his contribution to the meeting the Greek Prime Minister pointed out that people were dying in the streets, that there was absolute mayhem in the delivery of public services and that there was great anxiety, concern and fear among citizens arising from this. The anger was not directed solely at banks but also at the lack of governance and competence in terms of the management of people's affairs by Governments in recent years, when debt was doubled and there was incapacity to measure up. During his contribution, the Greek Minister pointed out that there were protests in Greece and this was reflected in references by a number of leaders to similar, but smaller-scale, protests in other countries. The protests were not discussed beyond that.

Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to the poll on bailing out banks and the fact that most people would prefer not to bail out banks. If we were to ask whether the interest rate reduction should be passed on to seriously challenged mortgage holders, the answer would be "yes", which I support.

I have good news on jobs. At the meeting prior to the last meeting, there was a specific paper from the European Commission dealing with the situation of the Single Market, small and medium-sized enterprises, the opportunities that exist there for micro-finance, credit guarantees and freeing up the opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, the target objective of being able to form a company within three days and for €100 and the potential that exists across the European Union for serious job creation. Before Deputy Boyd Barrett was elected to the House, the Lisbon agenda was supposed to allow Europe to measure up to America and the Far East in terms of job creation, although it never did. There is a big focus on this paper, which I will send to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I am sure he will find it very interesting.

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