Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party will support this Bill, which is by and large technical. I do not intend to use all my time and many of the issues I would be ventilating if I were to do so have been adequately covered by the Minister of State and Opposition Members.

The Bretton Woods agreement was a groundbreaking accord forged from the ashes of the Second World War. It created the IMF and the World Bank and, latterly, led to the formation of the UN, the European Coal and Steel Community and other important multilateral institutions out of the devastation of the war. It had at its heart a determination to bring economic and fiscal stability and growth as a means of securing peace and prosperity in a war-torn Europe and world.

We are, as a consequence of Russian aggression, at an uncertain and insecure point in our history. At times like this we are reminded of the importance of multilateralism and of sovereign states with common principles and objectives working together to secure peace, insisting on respect for international law and rules and the need to support our fellow human beings with the solidarity that being active members of international organisations brings.

Our membership of the IMF goes back to 1957. As has been said, it was an important step in the development of our young State as a polity that was growing in confidence, maturing and becoming more aware of its important function in the world. The IMF has had its critics and some, if not all, of the criticism levelled against it has been fair. The terms of the 2010 bailout for Ireland were exacting and stringent. Some €22.5 billion was provided to this State through the troika programme via the IMF to keep the doors open as part of that arrangement. The country was in receivership at the time. Nobody else would lend us money to pay welfare and keep schools and hospitals open. The IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Union were the lenders of last resort. I hope and the evidence suggests that lessons have been learnt by the IMF and other international lenders from that difficult period.

Since that experience, we have seen the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank adopt a much more enlightened and, dare I say, Keynesian approach to the challenges faced by the Continent and the globe more generally in the context of Covid-19. If we are to see this country, this Continent and the world reach the potential which exists and if we are to be serious about declaring a war on poverty, building up public services and making this country and the world more equal, then we must see more evidence from the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank that their ideologies have changed.

The borrowing arrangement we experienced from 2010 to 2013, and post 2013, in respect of the arrangements that are still to a degree in place in respect of the monitoring of the Irish economy, was provided under the previous NAB facility. Ireland is currently an inactive participant in the NAB. When this Bill is enacted, Ireland will then fully participate in the NAB, with a credit facility provided to the IMF through the Central Bank of Ireland. As was said earlier in various contributions, this is about providing supplementary resources to the IMF, if and when needed, to help states to forestall or to cope with and adjust to any impairment in the international monetary system. This is a temporary measure ahead of quota increases apportioned to each member state to ensure the ongoing adequacy of IMF resources.

Given the current uncertainty, it is welcome that Ireland is stepping up and accepting and fulfilling its international obligations in a spirit of solidarity. At this uncertain time, we do not know what kind of turn this continent and this world will take and we must ensure that we are always stepping up and taking on our responsibilities as a wealthy, mature and confident state in the global system to support countries that may experience difficulties in future.

See this speech in context