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

I have tabled 11 of the 22 questions being taken. I will not get to all of them but I hope I have another opportunity to speak later. Last week I raised with the Taoiseach the fact that the European Central Bank earns more than €500 million per year in profits from the holding of Irish bonds. Six months ago the European Central Bank agreed to return all profits on Greek bonds to Athens. Ireland and other countries forced out of the market by current EU policies have a clear right to be treated in the same way. The original reduction on the interest rates on loans occurred because of a decision taken on the Greek situation.

The current alleviation of debt in terms of Portugal and Ireland is welcome, but it follows the Portuguese initiative on the basis of what happened to Greece. Last week, I asked the Taoiseach whether he had formally asked for the ECB profits on Irish bonds to be returned to Ireland. He was not in a position to answer the question then but said he would seek information from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and would then inform the House of the result. So I am asking again, has the Taoiseach formally asked for the ECB profits on Irish bonds to be returned to Ireland or not?

The Taoiseach has declined to say anything regarding the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron's position on a possible exit of his country from the EU, other than that he did not want this to happen and that it would be bad for Ireland. We do not necessarily want it to happen and know that it would be bad for Ireland. However, will we do anything to prevent it from occurring? Given that we are looking at the potential exit of our largest trading partner within the EU, have we commissioned any studies - beyond the general to the specific - on the impact of such a decision if the UK was to proceed along that path?

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