Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He does recognise that interest rates have fallen from 15% to an average of 1.25%. He also recognises that while there is ferocious demand for housing at the moment, property prices are beginning to rise. He recognises a much stronger public confidence, as is evident in so many sectors. However, as I have said openly, that recovery is fragile. It cannot be fully completed if there is any complacency or any situation whereby we will lose those hard won gains.

Deputy Higgins mentioned the sale of State assets. He is quite right that the sale of Telecom was accompanied by loud shrieks and calls from all over the world at the time. It was subsequently asset stripped. This Government has made it clear that any State asset would be sold only in the interests of the public and the taxpayer.

When the troika was here, the agreement was that the majority of the moneys realised from any sale of State assets could be spent on the development of sustainable employment. If the Government examines the possibility of selling any State asset, such a sale will only proceed following careful consideration and will be in the best interests of taxpayers and the Irish people in general.

I answered questions earlier about Aer Lingus, a company which the Government does not own and in respect of which it must take into account a much broader set of circumstances other than a mere valuation of the extent of its shareholding of 25.1%. Deputy Higgins is well aware that the Government is but one component of the ownership of Aer Lingus since the company's privatisation by a previous Administration.

I must inform Deputy Boyd Barrett that I do not agree with Mr. Krugman's assumptions. This country has come through an extraordinarily difficult period. As stated earlier, Ireland chose to follow a route of constructive engagement and negotiation and this has resulted in our being able to achieve changes of the order of €50 billion through changes in the terms of the promissory notes, interest rate reductions and approval to buy out €18 billion in loans borrowed at higher rates from the IMF. Said buy-out will save taxpayers €1.2 billion in interest charges over the period of those loans. It is through negotiation that changes such as those to which I refer are hammered out, agreed and approved. This means that the challenge accepted by the Irish people is now being vindicated and is evidenced by our being in a much stronger position, with confidence rising. I reiterate, however, that all of this is quite fragile. The programme for Government states that we must explore measures relating to debt sustainability. There has been an ongoing battle in this regard in the form of a series of consultations with the European institutions. Putting together a banking union, developing supervisory mechanisms, etc., form part of the negotiating process. Of course, the option of lodging a claim for direct recapitalisation, which has been on the table since June 2012, remains open to the Government if it considers this the appropriate and best course of action to take in the interests of Irish taxpayers. As the Deputy is aware, there are other options to be considered and evaluated.

Far from offering a muted response in respect of the debt issue, we have proven that the progress made to date has been in the interests of both our people and our country. Deputy Boyd Barrett was not present when I stated that I had already sent a message to the new Prime Minister of Greece wishing him and his Cabinet well. I hope the enormous challenge faced by the Greek people can be met. We were lectured by many individuals to the effect that we would not be able to change one iota of the troika programme, but that did not prove to be the case when the Government engaged in negotiations over many of the elements contained in the programme. The elements to which I refer remain extremely difficult for our people. That is why I have made the point that Ireland needs to hear the European Central Bank's side of the story. I hope the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis will be able to capitalise on the progress made in this regard in order that the latter can actually happen.

These are extremely important issues. I would like to think that as the year progresses we will establish a budgetary committee in the Houses and that the parties in opposition will be able to debate - in open forum - the challenges the economy faces and set out their stalls in respect of the budget for 2016, which will be introduced next October. Such a committee would enable everybody to have access to the relevant statistics and allow people to outline their priorities and the choices they propose to make.

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