Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Martin has asked quite a lot of questions in his contribution. He is correct that €60 million is available under the direct recapitalisation from the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. It is well recognised that a €60 billion capacity for financial assistance is included in that mechanism. The single supervisory mechanism is a precondition for direct bank recapitalisation and that will not be established before the third quarter of 2014, after the balance sheet assessments are expected to conclude here in 2014. Subsequent to the establishment of that framework and allowing for time necessary for the completion of all those procedures, the ESM board of governors and the euro area finance ministers will add that new instrument to the list of available ESM financial assistance instruments. Consequently, one would expect the ESM would be in a position to offer direct bank recapitalisation financing. It will be some time before the single supervisory mechanism or direct bank recapitalisation is operational. It will be at least the second half of 2014 before that is expected to kick in.

I am aware of the speculation and comments made by people about direct recapitalisation for banks. As matters stand in this regard, that is, on the 29 June decision of the possibility of the ESM to deal with direct recapitalisation for banks, direct reference is still made to it. That situation stands and has been re-clarified in all the European Council meetings at which this issue was referred to or discussed, right through from June 2012, and that position still stands. If one considers the timescale of what is involved in this regard, until all these other pieces and instruments are put in place, it will be at least the second half of 2014 before this matter can be available for decision and discussions.

I did not get a chance to talk with the Minister, Deputy Howlin, who I believe in Vilnius today. I will remind him of his comment in respect of releasing information about the freedom of information for the Deputy. At the European Council, there was a series of comments about youth unemployment and the general state of the economy. A presentation was given by the European Commission with particular focus on the digital economy and the need to remove digital barriers and borders because whereas physical borders have been removed, this is not the case for digital borders and there is a need to do this. In addition, there was a strong presentation from the Commission about its expectation that up to 900,000 jobs will be made available across Europe by 2015 in the whole information and communications technology, ICT, digital area with clear implications for all countries, including Ireland. Mr. Draghi gave a clear and strong presentation at the Council meeting about how he envisaged matters moving ahead. He referred to keeping interest rates low, to the remit of the European Central Bank, ECB, in controlling inflation and to the requirement for countries to continue to reform and become more competitive. Such competitiveness brings with it the jobs that follow on foot of investment and I believe this point was particularly strong. The elements of banking union have been dealt with in part through Ireland's Presidency and still continue to be the focus of discussions, leading on to the decision of 29 June 2012. I believe Deputy Martin referred to a banking union on a number of occasions and referred to the different elements thereof that must be dealt with here.

As to whether Chancellor Merkel or anyone else referred to conditions, Ireland never made an application for precautionary credit lines to anyone. What was done was to focus on what were the circumstances and options the Irish Government must consider in exiting the programme. The Minister for Finance went to Brussels, Frankfurt and Washington and spoke to other people. Consequently, it was not a case of the French President, the Italians, the Germans or anyone else stating this is what Ireland should do. They all made it perfectly clear that this was a decision for the Irish Government on behalf of the Irish people. It also was made clear that whatever decision Ireland would make would be supported. There genuinely was no pressure from anyone to the effect that Ireland must apply for a precautionary credit line or that a set of other conditions would apply, as that was not the nature of the discussion at all. As to what I discussed with Chancellor Merkel, obviously the technical support already offered is being followed through in the context of discussions between the Department of Finance here and officials from the German Chancellery in regard to KfW, the German triple-A rated development bank. I hope that out of those discussions can come a structure or platform by which Ireland and its small and medium-sized enterprises can benefit from the level of low-interest moneys that would be available, given the current scale of the country's debt position, which I am glad to state will begin to fall in time.

In general, as Deputy Martin is aware, one speaks to different leaders around the table about their country and one's own country. The European Council never made any recommendation to Ireland, no leader approached to state that a particular course of action was what Ireland was obliged to do. I must state that by and large, they were highly appreciative of the progress made by Ireland as a country and its people, as reflected in the improved financial outlook for the country. As for the general Council itself, its mood was that if Europe keeps making decisions to move itself forward to be more competitive, the Union of 500 million people will have the opportunity to grow and develop. In addition, there were some references to the opportunities in the Single Market, the discussions about the European Union-US trade negotiations and so on.

There also was a discussion about the business of the allegations about telephones being listened to, encrypted telephones, mobile telephones and other communications facilities. A number of comments were made about how some information is necessary to have in regard to terrorist activities and the thwarting of occasions for bombings or general terrorist activities.

The Tánaiste had raised this with the American diplomatic services. My understanding, from the information made public, was that Dublin was not a listening post for the Americans. On the question of whether I asked the British Prime Minister if they were tuned into this country, I did not ask him because operational issues and exchange of information between the Garda Síochána and the PSNI about anti-terrorist activities are matters for the Garda Commissioner and the Chief Constable of the PSNI.

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