Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I made it perfectly clear that our demands were that there be proper and adequate firewalls to prevent contagion, that there should be better governance of how the operation is run, and that budgetary discipline be prioritised. Those are the three key demands. It is not a case that when one attends a European Council meeting the agenda will include a list of sub-items submitted by this country or that country. The process is that Mr. Van Rompuy determines the agenda based on the connections he has with all countries. As I said, the issues were firewalls, budgetary discipline and better governance.

Ireland, along with the other countries I listed in my reply, has submitted two papers for Monday's informal meeting, both in respect of SMEs and the way in which we can have access to credit and so on. Growth and jobs are central to the recovery of Europe. It often happens, as the Deputy is aware, that Governments and personalities can get involved in interminable institutional arguments such that we lose sight of what is critical for the development of the Union and the achievement of the full potential of the Single Market, that is, growth and jobs. Ireland, together with several other countries, has submitted a paper on that. In my discussions with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, in the past fortnight, we agreed that both Ireland and Britain would submit papers to colleagues at the table and to the Commission proposing that growth and jobs would be central to the decision-making process of Europe, either through regulation or at directive level, so that when the legislative process begins, people's focus would be on that at all times. These are the issues of importance to us.

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