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

The decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court is not definitive in terms of European legal jurisprudence, I would suspect. The ECB may yet have an escape route, so to speak. However, this does reveal a mindset consistent with an ongoing divide. Some see a collective approach to crisis, be it the financial crisis or in this context of a global pandemic, from European institutions. They believe that the ECB is independent and that we do need a collective response either through a coronabond or through financial instruments which, to be fair to the bank, it has deployed. Has the Government received legal advice from the Attorney General on this? What has been the initial response from the Commission in terms of the legal experts and the sense of the next stage in this? There is a stage where the Bundesbank has three months, I think, to engage but I am more interested in the European understanding of the court. It is the first time that a national court is essentially challenging the European Court of Justice, apart from the financial issues and the ECB. This is a very serious development, which could undermine the entire cohesion of the EU itself. Does the Minister of State share that concern?

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