Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Paragraph 5 states: "The specification of the debt criterion in terms of a numerical benchmark for debt reduction (1/20 rule) for Member States with a government debt in excess of 60% needs to be enshrined in the new provisions". Does the Taoiseach understand what that means? Will he explain it to the House? Most economists who are analysing this suggest it means, in effect, that debt-GDP levels would be brought down to about 17% and that the whole issue of sovereign debt would be almost wiped out in time, if one was to follow these rules. That is why an economic impact assessment is required. We are signing up for something, in the words of the Tánaiste, when we do not know what is in it and do not know the full implications.

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