Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before the break I was speaking about the small but positive signs which may presage a recovery not only here in Ireland, but in Europe. I spoke about the fact that last year was the IDA's most successful year in bringing jobs to Ireland in the past ten years, the commitment by the EU to look at possible debt reduction for us, growth in confidence in the bond market with the drop in interest rates, the recovery of the euro itself and, more importantly, stability in the euro. Given this background, and I am not trying to overstate what is happening, I stated I was rather taken aback by Deputy Donnelly's remarks on RTE yesterday morning, which I felt were churlish to say the least, when he was responding to what the rest of the world regarded as some good news. Of course we could get better news, and it would be great if our lenders told us we did not have to pay interest or that we did not have to pay back the money, but in the real world these things do not happen. I do not expect Deputy Donnelly to congratulate the Government because in the real world these things do not happen either, but I believe that on hearing good news for Ireland, and God knows it is rare enough, any Deputy would at least be pleased for the country and for its citizens, particularly those he or she represents. Instead, the impression came across that Deputy Donnelly would have been happier if RTE had him on to respond to bad news. This is what I objected to.

I know there is a very fine line between fanciful optimism and realistic positivity. I certainly try to draw the line and not be fanciful because it is important to be honest with people and be realistic. The negativity of Deputy Donnelly was not only churlish but potentially damaging, and not only to the economy. On Leaders' Questions this morning Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about the depressing and tragic suicide numbers and the growth in suicide particularly among young people. This was also raised in the Topical Issue debate by Deputies Troy and Wallace. I do not know whether there is a causal effect between the economy and unemployment and suicide, but there is definitely a relationship between loss of hope and suicide and this is a point worth making. It behoves us as society leaders, if not to be completely positive, then at least to be temperate and honest in our comments and not to plunge people continually into eternal gloom. I would be the first to acknowledge that we in Ireland have had precious little to be happy about in recent years. I heard Deputy Ross make the same point. If Deputies Ross and Donnelly know the importance of perception and confidence and its impact on the economy, and if we want to increase confidence in our people and investors here and abroad, it does not make any sense to constantly denigrate the precious few positive developments we have had.

The overall purpose of the Bill, as the Minister of State stated yesterday in his opening speech, is to facilitate in the public interest the financial stability of the European Union and safeguarding the financial stability of the euro area. Nobody could quibble with this or be against it. It was and is clear the first and second Greek bailouts were not sufficient, or the terms were too onerous, for Greece to ever reach the type of sustainable levels of national debt which would bring the type of recovery it desperately needs. The amendments to the Greek loan facility were agreed before Christmas and have already worked to reduce the crisis and the near catastrophic situation we appeared to be in before Christmas. This is in all our interests and not only in the interests of Greece. Whether it is a permanent turnaround we do not know, but it is a positive development and this is my point. We all hope Greece will weather the extremely difficult times ahead for its citizens, and to call them "difficult times" is to understate it. It will run to certainly two and perhaps three decades for them. Their best case scenario is to reach 110% of GDP by 2022 and this is not a pretty prospect.

The conditionality of the rescue package is extremely onerous and the recent IMF report on Greece was, to say the least, very sobering. It pointed out total lending to Greece since the crisis started three years ago is more than €255 billion and the programme remained at high risk of missing its revised goals. It also pointed out Greece is attempting to achieve an unprecedented amount of fiscal and current account adjustment under a fixed exchange rate with a massive debt overhang and weak confidence. It also stated many of the conditions which caused the problems in Greece still exist as it still has a bloated public sector, rigidity in the jobs market and inflexibility with regard to wage rates. The report also referred to an astonishing scale of tax evasion among the wealthy in particular. I mention this because it may be that some day Greece may decide the demands of remaining in the euro are too much and too demanding, notwithstanding the eurozone's commitment to do everything necessary to save the euro. It may be that some day the eurozone itself will take the view that keeping Greece in the euro is no longer consistent with saving the euro.

In saying that, I am conscious that it is a doomsday scenario for Greece and probably for the rest of us, too. However, the chances of that happening are less now than they were. I think the EU means it when it says it will do everything necessary to save the euro, but we should probably interject the words "within reason". It is not just to save Greece but to save any country, including ourselves, should that become necessary. The caveatof "within reason" must be borne in mind. Given the cost of saving a country could be so huge and the implications for citizens so large, every country should continue to exercise a significant level of democratic control over such decisions. For that reason, I have some reservations about the section in the Bill which permits future adjustments to the Greek loan facility to be approved simply by way of a Dáil resolution rather than by new legislation.

It may be that Greece will never have to come back to the well, and I hope that is the case, but maybe it will,perhaps under some future government in five, ten or 15 years' time. I understand perfectly that it would be far more efficient if we could just nod it through by resolution of the Dáil rather than having to introduce some legislation. However, it is absolutely essential that we have some democratic control. It would be both prudent and desirable to do so. While democracy is never the most efficient form of government and there is often a conflict between democracy and efficiency, in this case, which could have such implications for citizens, it is important to come down on the side of democracy.

I ask the Minister to consider examining the legislation with a view to amending it, not necessarily to require legislation if a further bailout is required but at least requiring a fully informed Dáil debate and a vote of the Dáil before significant decisions are taken in the name of the people which could have such an important impact on them.

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