Jimmy Harte (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State once again. When I was in school, we read about the IMF and the Bretton Woods Agreement. It was something we thought we read about only in a textbook, but images of IMF representatives arriving at our door brought me back to a time when I studied the theory of the Bretton Woods Agreement for my leaving certificate. Regardless of what is said about or our opinion of it, Europe and the world would be a much different place without the IMF and its involvement for the past 55 years, even though it might be populated by dictators and others who have ulterior motives. The Bretton Woods Agreement was put in place following the Second World War and concerned the way countries would harmonise their relationships. Generally, it has worked to the betterment of Europe and perhaps the world when we consider what happened in the last century.

The sentence in the Bill that hits everybody is that implementation of the amendment will trigger the related quota increases and lead to a significant reduction in the interest rate charged on Ireland's IMF borrowings. That is what the people want to hear because they know when that happens, it will be to the benefit of taxpayers. Five or six years ago no one in this building would have thought we would be talking about the IMF coming here because, as Senator Kathryn Reilly said, it was always mentioned in the context of dealing with countries such as Mali and other Third World countries. We never envisaged the day when Ireland would need its assistance, but we have no choice in the matter. If we do not work with it, it will give us its answer. In fairness, even the previous Government recognised, albeit late on, that we had a problem which we are now fixing.

No one has any problem with the Bill. Senator Sean D. Barrett is the expert on the "ins" and "outs" of the IMF, economic history and the prognosis for the country. I am sure the Minister of State is up there also in terms of his knowledge, but the sentence in the Bill that indicates we will benefit from a rate reduction is what people want and need to see. Therefore, I support the Bill.