Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased that the Minister has confirmed to the House in public that this deal is likely. I honestly believe he would not have made such a statement unless he was 100% sure we would get the deal. The Taoiseach stated some days ago he was confident of it and yesterday, at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, the Governor of the Central Bank stated that the ECB is an organisation that seeks to proceed as far as possible by consensus. It is not surprising that this work has been taking quite a while. I believe what we have designed is largely in the interest of the euro system as a whole. Professor Honohan made it clear yesterday that something has been designed. I accept there are probably some i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed. It is now clear that the deal is essentially ready and just remains to be signed off. The Minister's confirmation that the deal is likely is confirmation enough as far as I am concerned because I do not believe he would have used those words if the deal was not likely to happen.

The question now is what will be the benefits for the general Irish public this year given that the deal has been made. It has not been officially announced or signed off but essentially it is in the melting pot, to be delivered before 31 March. Has the Minister been looking at issues such as the minimal interest rates of close to 0%? When the deal is done, even though the loan may be extended over a period - I would ask for a deferral of the principal until the end of the loan - what we do not want is to have to pay more interest over a longer period than is scheduled under the current arrangement. As part of the talks, has the Minister asked for any reduction in the actual principal? He may not be able to confirm this, but I believe that if one does not ask for this one will certainly not get it. We would like to think that every effort is being made on every front in regard to this deal.

I am pleased that the deal is all but announced. The big question the people of this country want answered today is what the benefits will be for them in terms of the austerity programme and the expenditure cuts announced on the day of the budget, and whether there can be any relief on these during the course of this year.

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