Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. These questions relate to the European situation and the meetings held with various personalities, including President Barroso.

One of the defining features of the European response to the unprecedented global crisis which began in 2008 is that the tendency is do as little as possible until a crisis erupts and urgent intervention is required. There is no sense that the European leadership has come to grips with the nature of the crisis. In the aftermath of the Italian elections, there is still a lack of confidence with regard to the eurozone and its future. A particular election result in one country can have an impact on others, such as higher borrowing costs. There seems to be a lack of urgency in dealing with some of the issues. For example, where stands the banking union proposal? There is a sense that it has been delayed and watered down. The president of the Bundesbank and others have said they will not stand for any changes in policy. There are doubts about the nature and scale of the banking union when it finally emerges.

What new proposals for jobs and growth have been introduced by the Government at European level? On the face of it, the only significant event in the past month has been the agreement on the budget. The budget is the major instrument in the hands of European decision-makers for the creation of jobs and for the development of a pan-European stimulus. The cut in the annual budget of the European Union - which is less than 1% of the overall income of the European Union - bodes very poorly for the capacity of the European Union to create jobs. I await the Taoiseach's response on this issue.

I refer to the European Central Bank and Irish interest payments. I ask the Taoiseach to comment on suggestions made by Mr. Draghi and members of the ECB council that they may require our Central Bank to sell off its Irish bond holdings much earlier than projected in the aftermath of the IBRC liquidation. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the issue.

The ECB is currently earning over €500 million per year in profits from its Irish bonds. Last year the ECB agreed to return to Athens all profits on Greek bonds. Ireland and other countries that have been forced out of the market by current EU policies have a clear right to be treated in the same way as Greece. It has been confirmed that Ireland has not formally asked for this money to be returned to Dublin. Will the Taoiseach change his policy and formally request that the €500 million be returned to Ireland?

The horsemeat scandal continues to do immense damage to one of our most important industries. I am on the record as saying that in my view, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, understated and underestimated the scale and the gravity of that scandal. The degree to which it is still locked within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is worrying. In my view, the interests of health and consumer rights have been relegated behind that of the industry. In the early days of this controversy we all received assurances that the crisis was nearly solved. Various other countries were being blamed, such as Poland. It seems that official statements were being cavalier in calling out the names of other countries as being responsible for this kind of behaviour. We know as of last weekend that on our own doorstep there has been falsification of labelling and horsemeat exported as beef to other countries. This is a major issue which should be the responsibility of a number of Departments. The Department of Health has jurisdiction over the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. There is a need for an independent inquiry into the horsemeat scandal - one that does not have the capture of the industry. It seems that in the earlier phase of the response to this issue the Government was focusing on the effect of the scandal on the industry. Ultimately, that does more harm than good.

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