Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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100. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on his discussions with other European Union Ministers for Finance regarding Greek debt, related agreements between Greece and the European Union and the latest situation in Greece; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24698/15]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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This question is unbelievably timely. The question on the lips of every working person in this country is why is the Minister reported today in the media as being the toughest negotiator, demanding the Greeks be brought to heel and not be given a just debt solution and a write-down on their debt. This is in total contrast to the ordinary people of this country who demand solidarity be shown to the Greek people who are in a similar situation to ours.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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At a European level, discussions regarding Greece take place among euro area finance Ministers in the context of the Eurogroup. The procedure for dealing with all programme countries is as follows. The three institutions, namely the European Commission, the ECB, European Central Bank, and the IMF, International Monetary Fund, conduct technical discussions with the authorities. Where agreement is reached, this comes to the Eurogroup for endorsement. Alternatively, the Eurogroup can help provide political guidance and resolve outstanding issues.

On the current situation, discussions at a technical level have been difficult. At the beginning of June, progress at a technical level was made. At a subsequent meeting at political level between the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Eurogroup president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, to discuss the proposal, it seemed like both sides were moving closer together. However, following the submission of Greek counter proposals on 12 June, it was clear there had been a complete rowing back on the Greek side and subsequent negotiations concluded with no agreement.

As a result, an additional Eurogroup meeting and informal European summit were called on 22 June 2015 in Brussels. The purpose of these meetings was to exchange views on Greece, as well as to clarify the positions and the situation in the ongoing talks between the Greek authorities and the institutions.A revised list of counter proposals was submitted by the Greek authorities yesterday. The Greek authorities will now work with the institutions to agree a comprehensive list of reforms and a list of prior actions by tomorrow that can be presented to the Eurogroup. The euro area has an obligation to Greece in these difficult times but Greece has an obligation to itself. It needs to reform its economy and return it to sustainable growth.

Ireland, together with other member states, understands and empathises with the difficult situation faced by the Greek people. This is why there has been a willingness to negotiate a way forward which takes account of the realities of the situation in Greece and the political priorities of its new government, while also respecting existing commitments. The situation of Greece's finances is challenging with immediate financing needs to be addressed. In addition, deposit outflows have continued from the banking system. Accordingly, urgent agreement on the necessary structural reforms is imperative to conclude the fifth review and release the associated disbursements.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

On Greek debt, as I have repeatedly outlined, my view is that Greece should remain in the euro area and that sovereign debt should not be written off. However, there is, of course, some room for manoeuvre in terms of maturity extension and other ways to reduce the burden of debt. This is what we have done in Ireland, in co-operation with our European partners, with the extension of maturities on our EFSF, European financial stability facility, and EFSM, European financial stabilisation mechanism, loans, the replacement of the promissory notes with long-term bonds and the replacement of IMF loans with cheaper market-based funding.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Will the Minister confirm if it is true that he insisted that emergency funding and financial support for Greece would be reduced unless it retracted its demands for a sustainable debt write-down?

Is that true? Was the Minister on the side of the Germans in demanding that Greece not get a deal? Is the Minister aware there has been a 35% increase in suicides since 2010, directly linked to the ongoing austerity programme imposed on the people of Greece? The impression that he and other Ministers and Deputies speaking on the matter would like to give is that the Greeks have not done enough and have not brought in reforms. Ongoing IMF and troika austerity regimes have been imposed, which have led to a situation in which domestic violence has increased by 47% and 35% of people now live below the poverty line. The Minister is asking the Greek Government to foist even more so-called structural reforms on the ordinary working people and the unemployed of Greece.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have great sympathy for the Greek people and I have expressed this view on several occasions in the House. I have also been quite helpful to the Greek authorities in moving to the present position whereby realistic negotiations are taking place. I do not have the strong personal relationship that the Deputy's group and Sinn Féin have with the party of government in Greece because I do not share the commitment to its economic policies which Sinn Féin and the socialist group seem to share. That being so, I have a good working relationship.

Emergency liquidity assistance, ELA, is entirely a matter for the European Central Bank, and at yesterday's meeting I sought clarification from Mr. Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, about how long he thought it was feasible to continue to pay ELA to Greece. The Deputy will recall from newspaper reports that he is already on record as saying it must be reconsidered on a daily basis. The important point I was making is that the new round of negotiations has a very short timeframe in which to be concluded satisfactorily, or there is a risk that ELA will be cut off, because it is bound by legal arrangements in the European Central Bank. It is very important that an agreement with Greece is fully negotiated by Thursday at the latest. That is my position. Anything else is based on leaks, supposition and spin.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Is it not true that the most important thing for the Minister and the Government is to see that Greece does not get any deal they could not get and that no write-down of debt be given? The Minister stated that he had been helpful to the Greek authorities. I do not think it was very helpful to ask for the noose placed there by the ECB to be tightened around the necks of the Greek people and Government. The Minister obviously does not agree with left-wing politics, and that is fine, but how dare he lecture the Greek Government on what reforms it should implement? I do agree with the Minister on one or two things. I agree that the banks should be taken over and nationalised in the interests of the ordinary people of Greece, and that capital controls should be put in place to stop the attack on the Greek economy from the markets. Hefty wealth taxes should be imposed on the rich, such as the shipping magnates, who have escaped scot-free in the past six years and who are investing their money in property deals in Mayfair in London. Greece should appeal to the workers of Europe to support it in its demands for a change in policy at the top of the EU. On Saturday, at the anti-water charges protest, people showed solidarity with the ordinary people of Greece. They should refuse to take on this monstrous debt burden.

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is again ascribing views to me which I do not hold and which I have never held. My objective in negotiating on behalf of Ireland at the Eurogroup is to ensure the Eurogroup is preserved and there is no threat to the euro as the currency of the 19 countries in the group. I have stated on several occasions that I want Greece to remain as a constituent of the Eurogroup and continue with the euro as its currency. The present state of play, as I outlined, is that the Government has introduced proposals arising from the aide-mémoirepresented after the meeting in Berlin, with which the Deputy is familiar. It has made a number of proposals, principally with regard to VAT increases, increased contributions for pensions, increases in corporation tax from 26% to 29%, and various structural measures.

It seems to me that there is a good basis now for a negotiation but an awful lot of detail must be gone into in the next 24 hours to 48 hours. I hope that will proceed. If an agreement is reached - if the negotiations conclude in an agreement - Greece will continue in the euro, and that is one of my primary objectives.