Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have common interests. What is so patently obvious from the result of the Greek election is that it is a terrible embarrassment for the Irish Government that someone should be elected as head or Prime Minister of a friendly nation who is carrying a torch for the Irish people which the Irish Government will not carry. We are now in an absurd situation where we are backing away from a foreign Prime Minister who is representing our interests in Berlin and Brussels. We are running away from it. This is crazy and the reason is apparent. We all know what it is. It has been eloquently articulated here this evening by many, that the Irish Government if Syriza and Mr. Tsipras achieve what they are looking for will be deeply embarrassed.

What is happening in Europe today and will happen for the next week or two is a battle between Greece and Germany. Ireland, to its shame, is siding with Germany. Our Government has decided to take the shilling or the applause from the big countries and to sacrifice the interests of the Irish people. It is as bad and as embarrassing as that. The reason is clear. It is not necessarily because we love the plaudits we get from Angela Merkel and the heads of Europe but it is because the policies we followed, the decision that was made when the Government came into power will be exposed as a strategy in ruins. The Minister and everybody else know that if Mr. Tsipras gets a red cent off his debt we should be looking for the same red cent. Not only should we be looking for that but we will be asked why we did not get it in the years gone by. Why did we not stand up when we said we would before going into government, as Mr. Tsipras did, and demand those things that the Government parties when in opposition said they would look for? Why did we roll over when this was there for the taking? That is the lesson to be learnt from the refusal to have a debt conference.

It would open an appalling vista of exposure and shame for this Government in terms of it not being able to deliver what the new Greek Government could deliver. That is why it is being opposed, and for no other reason. It is to save political embarrassment in the context of the forthcoming general election. This Government could have saved billions of euro by having debt written off in the way Greece will have it written off in the weeks to come.

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