Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The Senator asked why would we put at risk the prospect of being able to draw down money at a rate of 3% or less. Effectively, when we put money into the fund with all other countries to a maximum of €80 million, the fund will borrow money in the money markets which will then be lent to countries for the purposes set out. A tiny margin will be charged on that money. Why would we want to resist this - a question posed before the referendum - particularly when one looks at our ten-year bond yields which have not gone down? Our ten-year bond yields are static by comparison with those of other countries, which, in itself, sends a message. Why would we want to resist the opportunity of obtaining money at a rate of 3% or less when the markets are charging 7%? It is a no-brainer. If one stops paying money into the fund, one will lose one's voting rights, which also would not make sense. Why would we not want to have an Irish person as a board member of the new body? That is an issue to which we can return tomorrow also.

Many colleagues have asked why the institution is so unique. We will be putting in €1.27 billion between now and the first six months of 2014. There is another €9.87 billion that is callable, which leaves a total liability of €11.1 billion. It is no different from the World Bank or the Asian Bank. Ireland is a member of the World Bank, to which it contributes money. In circumstances where the World Bank was subject ot extraordinary exposure, it would call on all of its constituent member banks to give it more money. We are not expecting such a situation to emerge, but the system that will apply to the ESM is no different from the one that applies to the two banks mentioned. That is a fair analogy.

We will have an opportunity tomorrow to go through other points colleagues want to make and I look forward to dealing with them. As I stated, there is no magic bullet to solve this problem, but we must incrementally work with our partners to ensure we arrive at a better place. If I learned anything during the most recent referendum, it was that the people had given us a mandate to continue to negotiate to try to get the country to a better place. They recognise and will stay with this process as long as we can see light at the end of the tunnel. Who knows where we will end up. No one can speak with certainty about what the outcome will be. Certainly, it is the view of the Government and I suspect of everyone in this House that a much bigger pan-European solution - it will take some time to work out the details - is required, but it is in our interests to stay in the game and continue to do what we can to improve our situation by having access to relatively cheap money in circumstances where the country cannot borrow in the international money markets at sustainable levels. That is our objective in putting this mechanism in place and looking for the support of colleagues for it.