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

There has been some comment in recent days, including today, on Garda security measures at the Border during the G8 summit. It is welcome that the summit is being held on the island. It is potentially very positive for its profile. I hope the opportunity will be used to convey certain issues and points to world leaders. It is an unfortunate reality of these times and global summits that extra security measures are required. Some small groups insist not only on their right to protest which I uphold, but also to go further. Hence, the necessity for security. I wish the Garda Síochána the very best in its work in advance of and during the summit.

The information that has emanated so far on the summit's agenda is not encouraging. We have seen leaders beginning to queue up to declare the crisis is over, a weakening of proposals to co-ordinate activities and a dilution of some of the policies leaders had agreed, in particular at European Union level. This is alarming for the 27 million people who are unemployed within the European Union. I ask the Taoiseach for his opinion on the decisive move by the IMF in the past week in pointing to the errors in EU-IMF policies in the period 2008-10. The IMF has stated countries were not dealt with fairly and that the European Union has so far failed to acknowledge this fact properly. This has important implications for Ireland, but it was surprising that the Taoiseach used his position as President of the Council to argue against getting the Union to acknowledge what it had done wrong. He said no purpose would be served in looking at EU policy and how it had evolved and impacted on Greece, Ireland and Portugal. When he said there was no point in getting involved, he was arguing directly against Ireland's claim that significant further relief should be given to the State on foot of the European Union's role.

It is interesting and I am amazed the head of the IMF is increasingly prepared and willing to say Ireland is carrying debts that are not its sole responsibility but the national Government is not advancing the argument as vociferously as the IMF. It is important we consistently and continually articulate the position the IMF is putting forward.

At Fermanagh, the key players will be talking about trade and competitiveness. It would be a better use of the Taoiseach's time, when he gets the opportunity, to focus on the impact of the early years of this crisis in terms of the policies of the EU, the ECB and the IMF. Those issues still need to be addressed.

The G8 will discuss the financial markets and in recent days a number of leaders have declared the financial crisis over. We are beginning to see the emergence of the Franco-German alliance. Last week there was a declaration that said nothing should be activated on banking union until everything has been agreed sometime next year. We are beginning to witness a resiling from earlier agreements on banking union to which the EU member states signed up. As president of the European Council, what does the Taoiseach plan to do about this dilution of the policy and the resiling from its implementation? Up to now, the Taoiseach said we have a clear agreement but that is not enough. What is beginning to happen represents clear breaches of the agreements. Is the Taoiseach proposing to do anything about that?

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