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

I would not exonerate anybody. There is always poetry during the campaign and prose when one must govern. Greece is in the prose stage now and we will see the hard proposals. I read with interest the reports of the press conference in London with Chancellor George Osborne and the Greek finance Minister. I thought an interesting set of proposals emerged.

It is incorrect to state a reduction in interest rates would allow us to invest in infrastructural projects. Interest is not calculated in the new expenditure benchmarks in Europe, so whether there was a reduction in interest rates or not it would not free up any more elbow-room for spending on capital in Ireland.

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