Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I congratulate the newly appointed members of the French Government, including the new French Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, on taking up their new appointments. Throughout the presidential election campaign and since, President Hollande has made clear his intention to seek to complement the stability treaty with a growth-oriented approach. The comments by Mr. Moscovici are entirely consistent with that approach, which the Government has welcomed.

The European Council will meet tomorrow to consider how to advance the growth and jobs agenda, and it will return to the matter again in its meeting next month. These are important meetings and we will engage actively in the discussions. There is now an understanding at European level that we need to continue with the reforms necessary to place our economies on a sustainable path, but that this needs to be balanced with policies to generate growth and to create jobs. This will require progress on a number of important fronts. We need to continue to press ahead with implementation of existing commitments, especially regarding the Single Market. President Van Rompuy has argued for rapid progress in a number of areas, on which I fully support him. President Barroso has also signalled that the Commission is working on identifying further areas that have the capacity to provide the greatest and most immediate boost to growth and will come forward with a targeted set of measures.

We also need to continue with reforms at national level as part of the Europe 2020 process aimed at future-proofing our economies. The Commission will make its specific recommendations for each member state on 30 May and these must be advanced as a priority. Ireland's EU-IMF programme is at the heart of Ireland's efforts in this process. However, it is clear that steps are also necessary to improve prospects for growth in the short term. In this regard, a number of important and interesting proposals have been brought to the table, including those made by President Hollande. These include the possibility of increasing the capital available to the European Investment Bank as a means of improving its capacity for onward lending; considering whether there are ways in which unspent structural funds can be mobilised in support of our growth agenda; and advancing the Commission's project bonds initiative.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

It is important that these measures are all seen in the round. As I have said before, efforts to ensure stability, such as the new treaty, and efforts to drive growth are two sides of the one coin. There will be no growth without stability and no stability without growth. The Government is very strongly of the view that the best way for Ireland to secure its recovery and its future is to endorse the treaty; to put ourselves in a position where we have a credible and secure line of future funding, should it be needed; and to work closely and urgently with like-minded partners at European level to drive forward the jobs and growth agenda.

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