Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I and my party have been very consistent over the past four years in saying that Greece needs some further debt relief if it is to have a credible route back to long-term growth.  This remains the case.  The debt restructuring that was carried out up to now has been enough to kick the can down the road but not enough to deal with the problem. The effort of the Greek Government to secure a reduction in the impact of its debts is reasonable and it is one we should be supporting, rather than joining the hardline effort to say "No" to everything.

Certainly, it is the case that the new Government in Athens has been unreliable and damaging in the tactics it has used.

Regularly abusing those one is negotiating with, denouncing them as criminals and failing to engage in detailed discussions are not behaviours which serve anyone’s interests.

Syriza has a democratic mandate to seek to reduce the debt and austerity. This mandate, however, also includes the contradictory promise to abide by the rules of membership of the eurozone, and it does not remove the right of other countries and international institutions to disagree. "Shut up and give us your money" is a negotiating tactic which has proven disastrous so far. What is also not reasonable is the effort of the Syriza Government to reject any reforms at all or to give any commitments in return for billions in other people’s money.

The indication now is that it has finally tabled a serious proposal. This has survived the Schäuble-Noonan effort yesterday which could have effectively torpedoed it before any real discussions. At the summit on Thursday and Friday Ireland has a duty to stand on the side of giving Greece a chance. Now that there is a real engagement and an effort to provide credible commitments in return for the release of €7 billion in funding, Ireland should speak up in favour of doing whatever is possible to get a deal finalised. The Taoiseach must end the policy of sucking-up to the hardline elements in Chancellor Merkel’s party.  It has delivered nothing for Ireland and nothing for Europe.

The Taoiseach should be an advocate for sustainable debt relief for Greece. Unfortunately, there appears to be zero likelihood of this happening. Quite simply, the Taoiseach has refused to advocate reasonable debt relief for Ireland, so he will clearly not do anything to help another country. In a four and a half year record of unprecedented spin and misdirection, this Government’s actions relating to Europe stand out. Next week we will reach the third anniversary of the day that the Taoiseach emerged from a summit in Brussels covering himself in praise for having, he claimed, secured a game-changer concerning bank-related debt.

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