Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They are part of the discussions that take place all the time.

I spoke at the meeting in Bratislava about the reasons we should be optimistic about the future of the European Union. It will require political decisions of the 27 member states. The European Central Bank can only do so much in terms of interest rates and buying up paper and all of that. There are decisions that must be taken by Europe if we are to move forward as 27 member states with almost 500 million people. The Juncker plan was one in terms of investment in major pieces of infrastructure. Perhaps it has not been taken up to the extent that it should have been and has not applied to smaller countries like Ireland in the way it might have. It is an issue I have raised with him.

We also had the question of public-private partnerships for investment and how they were being assessed by the EUROSTAT independent office. Following difficulties we were having here, I wrote to the President of the European Commission and circulated it to all the other leaders and I am glad to say movement is being made on it. It will allow for off-balance sheet investment for major pieces of infrastructure, including housing in some countries, which will be to everybody's benefit. These things are discussed on a regular basis. Getting consensus on where we want to be in five, ten or 20 years is the difficulty.

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