Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Anything I communicated to the Deputy in my reply is not new information and arises from the arrangements that have been in Europe. All 18 Eurogroup members are subject to the new rules. The survival of the euro is a close run thing, which has resulted in agreements being made across the eurozone which, in their totality, effectively amount to a fiscal union as well as a currency union. What I spelled out were the elements of the fiscal union that will apply across the eurozone.

The next element to deal with the crisis is banking union. We are moving from a currency union to a fiscal union and we will subsequently move to a banking union. This is the way in which Europe has progressed. While Deputy Boyd Barrett probably does not agree with what has taken place, I am simply describing the factual position. The simplest way of putting it in ordinary language is that we cannot increase spending by more than the growth rate in the economy. If we increase expenditure by more than our growth rate, we will be in trouble as we will run foul of the new rules.

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