Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Deputy and assure him and the House that these issues have been a constant preoccupation of the Government and of the Minister for Finance, in particular, throughout the Government’s tenure in office. That continues to be the case and every opportunity has been and will continue to be taken to advance the country’s position, as is desired by all of us, to ensure resolution of all of those questions.

It is important to clarify that the decision on the extension of our maturities, which the Deputy has raised, is separate from the continuing discussions on the broader question of our banking debt, to which he also referred. On that point, I reassure the House that we will continue to pursue the banking cost issues vigorously. The discussions are continuing and we will deliver a positive outcome on it also.

The question of seeking a number of the other measures provided to Greece was also raised by Deputy McGrath in his initial contribution. The House will discuss measures to assist Greece later this evening. It is on the Order Paper for the discussion to take place soon. However, it is sufficient to say that this country’s situation is very different from that of Greece. Nevertheless, it remains the case that we will continue to examine carefully any measures provided to other programme countries for any potential benefit they might have for this country. The agreement on extended maturities by the Eurogroup and ECOFIN is one result of this consideration.

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