Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. To a large degree, it is quite sobering for those of us speaking about the legislation, which is to approve an increased and changed facility to our European colleagues in Greece, to acknowledge that elected representatives in our partner European states went through a similar process and debated whether they, with financial pressures and responsibilities as legislators to their own electorate, should come to the aid and assistance of a fellow EU state, and, gladly, for the Irish people, they did. We are here today in a similar position, to extend the help that our Greek colleagues require.

Some of the Deputies opposite, in particular Deputy Boyd Barrett, spoke about solidarity, death grips and poison, all the while completely disregarding the fact that this funding, when it makes its way to Greece, will pay for public services, for nurses, teachers, etc., because within the terms of the agreement, the repayment of interest and principal is not a matter for the current budget of the Greek people. In fact, this funding and current funding are purely to stabilise the Greek economy. That needs to be borne in mind. When Ireland, as one of the countries in a programme, sends the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and others from the Government to negotiate on its behalf and request reduced interest rate payments and the extension of principal and other concessions - we have already received concessions - it would be most extraordinary if the Dáil was to refuse this request to the Greeks and then somehow suggest that we would want what we refused to give to others.

The confidence that has been restored to the European Union and to the euro by virtue of the agreement of last June is something from which we are directly benefiting as an economy. Critics who suggest that this process was too slow are correct and the Opposition parties which criticise the Government for not yet completing a deal are playing a role within the general carrot-and-stick approach of politics, but that is not to say that the Government will not complete a deal. The consequence that has been discussed, particularly by Deputy Ó Cuív, of some of the benefits we have accrued in the past is not necessarily bad. A precedent has now been set and our economy can indeed benefit from precedent. Greece will benefit from a very low interest rate and the term over which it is to be paid has been extended. While it is true to point out that extending a mortgage over a longer term can result in an aggregated greater total of payments, given the position of the European economic and the world economy and certainly our own economy, we are obliged over these couple of years to ensure our budget includes the smallest possible outgoing amount each year. That is what will allow the Greek economy - perhaps somewhat misleading - to balance its budget this year given that it is not really making any payments on its substantial amount of debt.

Deputy Ó Cuív mentioned "lula land". In my opinion, he is referring to his party's 14 years in Government. He is extremely critical of the Government for not yet completing its negotiations. He seems to have forgotten completely that the Government is trying to renegotiate the lula deal that Fianna Fáil negotiated in the first place. It is a difficult renegotiation, but we would not be in the position of dealing with a renegotiation were it not for the Government in which Deputy Ó Cuív was a Minister and for which he bears direct responsibility.

All of us within the European Union should continue to support our Greek colleagues. Their position and their debt-to-GDP ratio is significantly worse than ours. Their economy, unlike ours, is not experiencing growth. Of course, Greece did not renegotiate better terms.

It has received three different bailout packages given the difficulty its economy has experienced. While ours is in difficulty, it is not, fortunately, in the same trouble that to date Greece has allowed itself to get into. We must continue to wish our Greek colleagues the best for the future. I am sure if people from Greece are waiting to see if Ireland, which has always stood in support of it in the past, will pass this Bill today, they will be quite happy to know that the People Before Profit Members who are opposed to supporting the teachers, nurses, doctors and social welfare assistants in Greece represent such a tiny part of our Oireachtas and are not in government anywhere else in Europe anymore even though there were of course parties of its ideology in countries such as East Germany, Bulgaria and Poland before the Iron Curtain was removed. I support the Bill and commend it to the House.

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