Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The establishment of a banking union is an important development in itself. It is something we welcome. The key issue for Ireland is that the establishment of the single supervisory mechanism is a prerequisite for any direct recapitalisation of banks. It is a precondition of any deal on Ireland's investment in the main banks here. The Minister recently had a bilateral meeting in Dublin with the German Minister for Finance, Wolfgang Schäuble. Mr. Schäuble indicated that the necessary conditions in which the direct recapitalisation of banks could take place would not be met before 2014. We should be straight with the people by setting out a realistic timeframe. Is it likely that another year or more will pass before a deal is concluded that will allow Ireland to use the European Stability Mechanism to deal with the legacy recapitalisation of AIB, Bank of Ireland and so forth?

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