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

The role of the Cabinet committee on EU affairs is to oversee our preparations for Council meetings and ongoing negotiations with European Union partners. Given what the Taoiseach said last week about the decision on conditional funding emerging from what were called intensive discussions with EU institutions and governments, we must presume the Cabinet committee was involved.

The Taoiseach will recall that on 6 September, in advance of a meeting of EU finance Ministers, the Irish Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, told the Irish Independent that he would be seeking a conditional credit line of €10 billion. The chairperson of the Eurogroup welcomed this and the Taoiseach confirmed it. He went as far as to say how appropriate the figure of €10 billion was and how it represented the responsible thing to do.

Since 6 September, the eurozone economy has weakened significantly. Can the Taoiseach explain why he and his colleagues reversed the position adopted in September? What changed on the agenda of the Cabinet committee that saw it completely reverse its position in the past two months?

We were promised last week the background information used by the Government to justify its decision not to seek any conditional credit line. Where is it? Why has it not been published yet? Will that material be published? Could the Taoiseach indicate the role of the Cabinet committee in the decision, given that it met four times - twice in May and also in June and October?

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