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

Not only did the Taoiseach vote against those measures he campaigned actively against them. So to turn around now and demand credit for them takes a level neck never seen before in Irish politics. While Syriza was irresponsible in the promises it made before the last Greek general election, let us not forget "Not a red cent" and "Frankfurt's way or Labour's way". They were also dishonest promises abandoned within days of the Fine Gael-Labour Government coming into power.

As was revealed last Sunday, Fine Gael is currently researching the idea of holding an early general election and offering different messages for that election. Given how debates in this House have developed, no doubt the core strategy will be to claim to be national saviours and to unleash a stream of negative attacks. What they continue to fail to understand is that the Irish people can see through this and remember exactly what was said and promised before the last general election.

The Government needs to join the middle ground of states who believe in finding a solution to the Greek debt crisis. The suggestion to increase the VAT rate on tourism would have been totally counterproductive as Greece is highly dependent on the tourism industry. The concession on this showed some common sense at least. We have to avoid a humanitarian crisis. It is not acceptable that pensioners were fainting in the queues at the ATMs. At least opening the banks to allow them to get their pension is a positive step. Youth unemployment is at 50% in Greece and this will lead to far more social problems that may last for years to come. If the ECB pulls support from the Greek financial system, worse will follow.

The EU Council of Finance Ministers is meeting today and I hope the Minister, Deputy Noonan, speaks up for a real reform of the eurozone instead of the flawed and timid proposals which were discussed last week. Such reforms are necessary and should be undertaken by the Government. The euro is the only currency union which has attempted to work in the long term without any serious form of fiscal union. If we want a eurozone which is secure and which can deliver rather than just talk about growth, then there must be a move towards increased transfers to regions in trouble.

The position of the Taoiseach has been to support the idea that all we need for growth is budget control and structural reform. There is no credible economic basis for this. It is the very approach that was at the heart of the failure of the period from 2008 to 2012 which did so much damage to Ireland and other countries. Over the past four years Ireland has received nothing from the European Union and IMF which was not negotiated by others and extended automatically. The Government has delivered nothing from its approach of simply parroting whatever the hard-line position from the CDU is.

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