Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

He made the point that his country did not want to default, would not default and would move on. The agreement and understanding at that meeting was that the eurozone Ministers who were meeting on the following Saturday would work diligently, as they had throughout the week, to put together an acceptable, fair and workable outcome to this difficulty. Late in the evening, the negotiators on behalf of the Greek Government were withdrawn at the direction of Athens. Following the response from the institutions and other political leaders, I hope the authorities, the Prime Minister and his people will come back to the table to work out an acceptable position. I am glad a new paper has been put on the table by Greece. For our part as a country contributing to the European Union, we contributed €350 million to the first programme for Greece. As we were in a programme on the second occasion, we did not contribute then. There may be a requirement for a further programme at the end of the year, if events get that far, in which case Ireland will probably be expected to contribute. The question arises of what will happen in the referendum because it is the sovereign right of a country to hold a referendum.

Deputy Adams spoke about democracy. I took calls from European leaders, including one who considered that it would not be possible to pass a motion to extend the bailout programme through the leader's parliament because of the number of parties in the parliament in question. That is also democracy. The question of a referendum could have been raised over recent months but it arose at the very end and it remains to be seen what will happen between now and Sunday. I am glad the Greek authorities have tabled a new paper. It will at least be a basis for discussion and negotiation. Ireland, along with our European colleagues, will help in every way we can in dealing with this issue. This country was on the edge just a few years ago and if we applied what has happened in Greece to our situation, one could understand the difficulties and hardship that would have been imposed on people. There is a way out of this, and it starts at the table.

See this speech in context