Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

The other major model is the Chinese one, which is not democratic. We cannot aspire to it. Europe is not perfect. None of us is deluded or believes that every decision taken by European leaders should be hailed and feted, but it is by far the best of the available options. We should be proud of it.

As to the question of whether we should save the euro, I have immense respect for Senator Barrett, a leading academic light in my alma mater. I agree that the euro was created with an inherent design flaw and I am hearing many remarks of "I told you so", but I am not hearing much from academic contributors and economic commentators about what we should do to fix the euro. Much is being stated about the role of the ECB in short-term interventions and so on. With one exception, most people agree that we should save our currency because to do otherwise would have devastating consequences. Last week, Dan O'Brien wrote in The Irish Times that we would have a shortfall of €30 billion next year if our currency collapsed. However, no concrete proposals on how to fix the design flaw have been mentioned.

Once we move beyond the immediate challenge of providing liquidity and firewalls to the eurozone, fixing the euro's flaw will be our greatest challenge. We need to put in place a plan to redesign our currency and the monetary union. A part of this will involve fiscal union, deeper European integration and proper banking regulation. I am not interested in "I told you so" arguments. I am more interested in finding common solutions to this crisis and in strengthening our currency so that it can serve our people and economy well without ever being subjected to this type of market pressure again. It is not a question of closing up shop, retrenching into 1950s Ireland and printing punts.

I disagree with those who claim that the euro has been a mistake. I am glad that we asserted our economic sovereignty by joining the euro independently of the UK. It was the right decision. Since joining the euro, our trade has doubled and employment and economic growth rates have increased. This is not to dismiss mistakes such as the cheap money provided by the ECB and so on, but the euro has been important for Ireland and has given us significant confidence.

I will make a final point, as I am also under pressure. Journalists in the Financial Times and many Irish commentators have recently been pointing to Iceland as a model country and claiming that it burned its bondholders, did not repay its loans and told the UK and Dutch to go stuff themselves. This is not true, as Iceland is repaying its loans. The situation has been misunderstood. I met many business people while visiting Iceland. From their point of view and that of the Icelandic Government and people, the concern is that there is zero investment in Iceland because it has an untradeable currency. Ironically, it wants to join the EU so that it can enter the eurozone. This teaches us a lesson. Iceland is a fascinating country and has taken more pain than we have. On average, our public salaries have decreased by 14%, but the Icelandic figure is 35%. There is no comparison. Iceland aspires to get onto the road that we have been on for some time.

We can be proud of the EU and the European project without being under any illusion. We need to do a great deal to save our currency, but it is worth saving.