Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I agree with a comment by Deputy Dominic Hannigan earlier in that I do not think Sinn Féin quite knows what it wants aside from publicity and notoriety. Sinn Féin would have us believe that the inclusion of Article 136 is intended to frighten the public into supporting the fiscal stability treaty in the event a referendum is required in a member state. The same party was claiming only a few weeks ago that the Government had sought to change the treaty wording to avoid a referendum. The two arguments are contradictory so can the party make up its mind which is the correct one? I believe both claims are pure nonsense.

It is only logical that the commitment to greater solidarity among eurozone countries is matched by stricter rules. The granting of ESM support is closely tied to the new fiscal compact, and by creating this connection the EU Heads of State and Government have underlined the fact that financial solidarity and financial solidity are two sides of the same coin. The European stability mechanism treaty is an important part of the significant number of initiatives which have been taken at EU level to ensure the economic and financial stability of the euro area and the EU in general.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, said recently that the funding approved under the existing programme of financial support for Ireland is not conditional on Ireland ratifying the fiscal compact but, as is currently the case, on Ireland successfully implementing its programme. In short, this treaty is the cornerstone for a new culture of stability in Europe. The coalition Government has earned international credibility by swiftly cleaning up and consolidating Ireland's banking sector. An editorial in the Financial Times last September stated that other countries caught in the eurozone sovereign debt and financial sector turmoil could learn from the way Ireland is nursing itself back to health.

This Government is changing the way Ireland does its business by restoring fiscal discipline, cutting the deficit by 2015 and returning to honest budgeting. Irish Governments have made some terrible mistakes in recent years, but I do not believe that signing the revised ESM treaty will be one of them.

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