Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister. The detail of this amended Bill is interesting, in that the language could be transposed to the Irish situation in terms of a debt reduction or a rescheduling of the bank loans. I have every confidence that the Minister and the Government are working might and main to ensure that Ireland's unsustainable long-term debt will be addressed.

We must show solidarity with the Greek people. We are in no position to lecture anyone. There is great empathy with the suffering of the Greek people, as many of our people are suffering as well. Thankfully, our suffering is not as bad. My main concern and that of many people is that the Greek debt might not be sustainable, regardless of how often it is rescheduled or the maturities are extended. Will Greece be able to get out of the debts that have been imposed on it? Sadly, the evidence to date suggests that it will not, even with the best will in the world.

As the Minister well knows, governments can propose austerity measures, but their implementation and the basic restructuring of the Greek economy, in particular its fiscal policies, remain to be seen. There does not seem to be the same level of solidarity among civil society in Greece as there is in this country. This is despite the efforts of a number of fringe elements from across our society who have attempted and continue to attempt to whip the people into a frenzy. As Dr. Colm McCarthy put it succinctly a couple of years ago, anger is not a policy. The majority of Irish people understand that the Government must work rationally and gradually towards extricating us from our difficulties.

I agree with Senator Barrett in that the basic problem is that the euro is a flawed concept. At the time, it was clear that the currency was being introduced as a political decision minus any of the dimensions that one would attach to a fiscal union. These issues must be addressed. I share the opinion of some economists to the effect that Germany will need to accept that issuing euro bonds is one way to extricate countries, particularly those on the periphery, from this mountain of debt. Effectively, this will mean printing money. People can call it quantitative easing or anything they like. It is ironic that the Central Bank printed the €31 billion for the so-called promissory notes. Germany is the key but, judging from what one reads, Angela Merkel is focusing on domestic political priorities at the expense of peripheral countries such as Ireland. Perhaps this is a political reality with which the Government must live, but I hope that pressure will continue to be brought to bear.

Irish debt is unsustainable, irrespective of what colour one places on it. An attempt must be made to reduce it. Peripheral countries such as Ireland have been made to pay for the reckless nature of the German banks primarily - they gave free money away - and for a general environment of light touch regulation that has existed since the euro's introduction and landed us in this situation.

A book, entitled This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, was published last year by two academics involved in the financial services sector. They traced the economic cycles of boom and bust, recession and recovery over eight centuries. The good news is that recession was followed by recovery in each economic cycle, albeit the recovery was long and painful.

I wish the Bill well. I also wish the Minister well in his continuing efforts to ensure that, for the prosperity of our people, Irish debt is reduced to sustainable levels.