Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be of assistance to the House, and if it is okay with the Ceann Comhairle, I will bank my questions with the Minister and accept those answers in writing from his officials later today.

The economic and health impact of the Covid-19 crisis is without comparison in the modern world, as we all know. For this reason I believe that we must disregard the conventional approach to the cyclical economic downturn and develop new world solutions that serve the people and not the fiscal templates of pre-crisis and pre-Covid-19 textbooks.

I welcome the suggested financial package of €1 trillion that was mooted in the EU in recent days but I am afraid that much more will be required. The Federal Reserve in the United States has committed $3 trillion between April and June as a start. Europe needs to think much bigger. The EU population is 445 million and the US population is 328 million, but granted our economy is a little smaller. I feel that we have an awful lot to do. What they do for us will be contingent on what we can do for our people. We cannot countenance another period of austerity in this country.

I will bank the following questions and perhaps the Minister's officials will respond to me later by email. This is to allow other Members in to make their points. What have been Ireland's asks with regard to EU grant aid? I am conscious that we cannot strangle businesses with debt and think that we have dealt with the issue. Given the negative vibes from the Governments of the Netherlands and Austria and other northern EU member states over the last 24 hours, has the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, had bilateral contacts with his counterparts in those Governments? If the Minister has not, why not? Will the Minister have those contacts to state Ireland's position and to indicate what our asks and needs will be? Does the Minister accept that the €1 trillion that has been announced, half being for grant aid and half for loans, is insufficient in what it can mean for Ireland?

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