Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 9, inclusive, together.

As I stated in the House a few weeks ago, I met the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on 12 January in London, at which time we discussed a range of matters of mutual interest to both our countries and to our bilateral relationship, including developments in the eurozone and Northern Ireland.

In our discussion on developments within the European Union and the eurozone crisis, we discussed the evolving situation with the draft intergovernmental treaty agreement, which, as the House knows, was agreed last week by 25 EU member states, with the Czech Republic and Britain deciding to stay outside.

Prime Minister Cameron and I also discussed the idea of a financial transaction tax. I set out the Government's position that a financial transaction tax in the eurozone would adversely impact on the competitiveness of the IFSC in Dublin relative to the City of London. Such a tax should apply globally.

We did not get into a discussion on the details of the current proposals on banking regulation. As Deputies know, this matter is currently being dealt with by finance ministers at ECOFIN and the European Commission has proposed a wide range of regulatory reforms to the financial sector. One of the key roles of ECOFIN is to adopt such proposals in co-decision with the European Parliament.

As I have previously stated in the House, during our meeting the Prime Minister and I discussed recent developments in Northern Ireland. I also raised the matter of legacy issues, including Pat Finucane and the Ballymurphy and Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Deputies will be aware the Finucane family obtained leave for their judicial review process some weeks ago in Belfast. That hearing is expected to take place in May.

I hosted the 17th summit meeting of the British-Irish Council, BIC, in Dublin Castle on Friday, 13 January. It was an excellent meeting which provided an opportunity for BIC member Administrations to discuss current economic developments, with a particular focus on the many challenges we all face from youth unemployment. We agreed to examine further the effectiveness in our respective jurisdictions of initiatives for youth unemployment and to report on this at the next summit of the British-Irish Council, which will be hosted by the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, in June. We also had a discussion on the misuse of drugs, focusing particularly on rehabilitation. The misuse of drugs workstream is one of 11 workstreams under the British-Irish Council and is chaired by Ireland. The discussion at the summit on the misuse of drugs was led by the Minister of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall.

We also welcomed the establishment of the standing secretariat of the British-Irish Council in Edinburgh, with the support of the Scottish Government.

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