Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The troika programme in which we were involved for the past few years was a programme of the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission. The Ministers mandated to deal with the troika were the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We were included in this programme a number of years ago and were determined to exit it. That exit would depend on a recommendation brought to the Cabinet by the Minister for Finance, in particular, following his analysis of the information, advice and comhairle from a lot of sources. The independent, respected Governor of the Central Bank was very clear on this issue. While the director of the NTMA might have had a preference in the beginning for a precautionary programme, he was very happy, following analysis of the bond markets, that this was the right thing to do. The NTMA has already confirmed that it intends to set out its schedule to the markets for returning to normality from next January. It is very clear from the comments made by representatives of the NTMA that the buffer built up by the agency while we were technically still in the bailout programme gives us sufficient resources to fund the country until the end of quarter one or quarter two of 2015.

Of course, the Ministers to whom the Deputy referred are impacted on by this decision, as is everybody else. I have to say as a citizen and a politician, as distinct from the position I hold in this House, that the reaction across the country has generally been very favourable. I do not accept Deputy Joe Higgins's assertion that members of the Cabinet want to go around the country like "big men", as he put it. Nothing of the kind is the case. We have a long way to go. The Deputy has never heard me refer to the much abused terms that were bandied about by too many people for a number of years, nor will he ever hear me use these terms. We have a challenge. We must get the deficit below 3% by 2015. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is in India negotiating further investment in this country, with the potential to create new jobs. The line of investment into the country is very strong; exports are at unprecedented levels and interest rates have fallen to 3.6% or 3.7%. These are strong indicators, but they do not negate the challenge we face. The scale of debt in the country is enormous. The national debt is still exceptionally high. Because of our sovereign rating and the scale of our debt, we have spoken to German colleagues about officials from the Department of Finance working with German officials in respect of the triple A-rated KFW bank. I hope we can put in place a structure to provide access to credit at much lower rates for small and medium enterprises which would have a direct impact on job creation. Officials will be in Berlin for the next few days to discuss this very matter. It was for all of these reasons that the decision was made.

The Deputy has asked me what the sub-committee on European affairs does. Clearly, for the first half of the year the committee and its members - various Ministers - were focused on their own responsibilities in Dublin Castle, negotiating with Commissioners and their colleague Ministers and Ministers of State. I had to travel to Brussels on a number of occasions with the Tánaiste to discuss difficulties that had arisen in the drafting of the European budget. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, was involved in very intensive discussions about CAP reform. We were able to hold on to 97.5% of the funding, despite predictions that it would drop by 20% or 30%. The Minister was also involved in the reform of the CFP. These activities were assisted in various ways by the sub-committee on European affairs. However, it was not a function of the sub-committee to make the recommendation to the Cabinet about the circumstances in which we would exit the programme, which will close on 15 December. That was a matter for recommendation by the Minister for Finance who was assisted by every other Minister, as well as by the Tánaiste and me in terms of advice and the contacts and consultations that we had had with other leaders. As I said to Deputy Micheál Martin, we made a clear decision which we announced with certainty. It is a statement of confidence about Ireland. While we recognise that we still have many challenges ahead, we are not constrained by confusion about what might or might not apply in other circumstances.

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