Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Two headlines from The Irish Times today are "Frantic EU efforts to develop conditional rescue for Greece" and "Ireland distances itself from hardest hit", that being a reference to the high debt problems of Greece, Portugal and Spain. We have taken the necessary corrective action on the public finances, but what distinguishes Ireland from these other countries is the role played by the Opposition in supporting the Government on implementing the Stability and Growth Pact cutbacks in public finances. On "Morning Ireland" today, Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies underlined that distinguishing feature. He stated that a deep adjustment is inevitable in Greece but it is not certain that the opposition and trade unions also understand that. When we reflect on the changes made in this economy and where we have distinguished ourselves, we see that distinguishing feature is the role of the Opposition, in particular Fine Gael and Deputy Richard Bruton who drew up Fine Gael's economic policy and alternative budget.

In the United Kingdom, a former Minister, Jonathan Aitken, and Lord Jeffrey Archer were found guilty of perjury in separate libel actions. Here, a sitting Minister, Deputy Willie O'Dea-----