Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I raised an issue relating to this section on Second Stage. Section 2 provides that in future, any further changes to the Greek loan facility can be passed by this House by way of resolution and would not require any further primary legislation.

The issue we are debating, essentially the third amendment to the Greek loan facility, must come before the House by way of legislation. A full debate on Second Stage offered Members an opportunity to examine the Bill in detail, as they do with all other legislation, to assess its consequences for Ireland. Ireland has lent €350 million to Greece. Any changes applied to other programme countries that have potential implications for Ireland should require the passage of primary legislation. For this reason, the Fianna Fáil Party will not consent to the section.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the Deputy's fundamental point that a full debate must take place in the Oireachtas when issues of this nature arise. The difficulty, however, is that this is an international agreement among the countries concerned that has come before the Oireachtas for ratification. The House cannot change the contents of the agreement. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has given a commitment to introduce primary legislation should any change be made to the amount of money involved. This would require holding a full debate in the House on each Stage of any such Bill. If the amount of money is not fundamentally changed, the Constitution allows a motion to be passed in the Oireachtas. However, fundamental changes to the agreement could not be rubber-stamped and would require a full debate similar to that which we have had over the past three days.

It should be noted that a guillotine was not used on the Bill. All Deputies had an opportunity to express their views and Deputies from all sides engaged in a full and frank discussion and made excellent contributions in which all relevant issues were scrutinised. The constitutional obligation to introduce a motion in the Dáil for acceptance or rejection is adequate. The proposal should stand.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In the event of such a resolution coming before the House, will the Government provide for a full debate? Will the Minister of State give such a commitment?

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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While I am not the Minister for Finance, I believe such a commitment is implicit in the text. I would be pleased to give a commitment to hold a full debate. What would be the point of the Oireachtas is such important issues were not debated? My strong personal view is that a full debate would be necessary as a full debate is required under the Constitution. There is no point in having a parliament if fundamental issues are not debated.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Title is a misnomer as it is entirely incorrect to suggest the agreement will enhance the stability of the euro area. It will do precisely the opposite by further destabilising the Greek economy. It is likely that a slightly different or modified version of the model used here will be applied to Ireland in the near future. All of the models put forward thus far have failed because rather than delivering stability, they have brought devastation and instability. The Bill is misnamed and I do not support it.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The House has heard the Deputy's argument before. I am pleased that the vast majority of Irish people and Members of the Oireachtas support the legislation on the basis that it will ensure Greece can meet the new and significant obligations the changes place on its economy. While these changes are having a significant impact, they also allow Greece to remain in the euro, thereby strengthening the currency, and have been supported by all the countries that signed the initial consent. Ireland dropped out of this consent, as it were, when we entered a programme.

Ireland supports the agreement and welcomes the constructive changes taking place in Greece which allow it to remain in the euro. Greece is receiving a tranche of money that it needed. It is important, however, to highlight the differences between Greece and Ireland. We are in a different position because we are about to exit an agreement. We wish to remain part of the euro.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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While the Fianna Fáil Party views the agreement as necessary, it is not a solution. Greece remains on a life support machine and this agreement will not change that. I predict that further amendments will be made to the Greek loan facility because it still has some distance to travel. The European Union's handling of the Greek debt crisis is an example of how not to deal with a crisis. The initial solution provided in 2010 and its subsequent iterations have not been sufficiently comprehensive and did not address the root of the problem. Further changes will come before the House because the Greek debt and deficit are not on a sustainable path. While the agreement marks an improvement, it is certainly not a solution.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I, too, support the Bill, having voted for it on Second Stage yesterday. However, I also believe it tinkers at the edges and is akin to treating someone for a cold when he or she has a much more serious medical problem. The European Union and International Monetary Fund have dealt with Greece in a ham-fisted manner from the beginning. The Greek people have resisted this approach with some success. We have not had an overall evaluation of the real problem or the way forward. Ireland is being held up as the good boy of Europe while Greece is portrayed as its bad boy. The root cause needs to be addressed. As Deputy Michael McGrath noted, this matter will come before us again in the not too distant future.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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This legislation is not worthy of the support of the House. If there is one reason we should not support the Bill, it is the Minister of State's comment that it confers new obligations on Greek people. That is the crux of the issue. The interest holiday and reduction in the interest rate on the euro area loan are clearly positive developments but the key issue is that the changes in the legislation impose new obligations on the Greek people. These obligations will not and should not be met because they will further destroy the Greek economy and impoverish its people.

The agreement is symptomatic of Europe's approach to the debt crisis, which has been to do as little as possible and only then after it has been forced into a cul-de-sac. It was the potential for a Greek exit of the euro that gave rise to this agreement. Some tinkering at the edges has also been done in respect of Ireland's difficulties but it has always been the minimum required. Greece's debt must be fundamentally restructured, including by means of a substantial write-down, to enable it to return to some sort of normality.

With that normality, it can stop destroying its economy through cuts in public services and people's incomes and it can start to see growth and sustainable debt levels. Ireland needs the same restructuring of our banking debt, particularly in terms of the promissory note and the recoupment of the money provided to the pillar banks.

Unfortunately, this Bill is symptomatic of Europe's approach, namely, tinkering around the edges, doing as little as possible, sticking heads in the sand a little bit deeper and pretending that this facility will somehow resolve Greece's problems. In the same way, the outcome of the Eurogroup meeting has been flagged as the great white hope for Ireland. A dose of reality is required in both cases, yet this Bill does not provide it.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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As the Minister of State mentioned, we have discussed much of this matter. However, I wish to underline a point in challenging the notion that this Bill will bring stability, as the Title suggests. I want to cut through the myth that the money in question is, for the most part, being invested in the Greek economy to make it function and to provide funding for services and citizens. This is not the fact. Some €29 billion of the amount involved will be used for bank recapitalisation. Yet again, we are bailing out the banks, not the Greek people. Just as in our case, the majority of our loans were for the banks. We did not take them on because we were spending too much, though. Like Greece, we bailed out our banks so that they could bail out German and French banks. The cost of the loans has been loaded onto the people, who must make significant interest payments, digging them deeper into a hole.

The legislation before us should be called the "Control a Country Through the Use of Debt Bill". That is what it is about. Debt is control. If one can force a country into a position of indebtedness, one controls its economy. One can then asset strip that economy. This is what is happening in Greece and is beginning to happen in Ireland. Demands are being placed on us to sell our State assets. We have already gone a long way down the road of smashing up public services. We are doing what others want us to do, that being, to open our economy so that they can control it and buy our assets and markets at fire sale prices. This Bill is not about stability. It most certainly is not about bailing out the ordinary Greek people who have been crippled by the situation.

The main opposition party in Greece and the many left-wing parties that oppose this Bill may well be in government soon. They do not consider it a bailout of the Greek people. Just in case there is any suggestion that those of us who oppose the Bill do not want to help the Greek people, I wish to say that it is precisely because we want to help them that we are opposing it. We want to stand in solidarity with the Greek people, who know that this is a debt noose around their necks.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This debate is on agreeing or not agreeing the Title.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Not agreeing.