Sean Barrett (Independent)

I wish the Taoiseach every success when he becomes President of Europe on 1 January. People from the west already occupy the post of Taoiseach, Tánaiste, President and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, and County Offaly barely managed to put its own man into the White House before the western wave of political talent took over.

The Taoiseach will take over a Europe suffering mass unemployment, with rates as high as 25% in some countries. Youth unemployment in Greece is as high as 50%. The Taoiseach addressed this in his contribution. There is a euro crisis but there is no exit mechanism for countries and the bank regulations were hopeless. One size fits all interest rates may not be appropriate and the loss of exchange rate control was a serious impediment. The Taoiseach may have to deflate some egos in Frankfurt and Brussels. The euro was extremely badly designed because we were left without emergency tools to deal with the crisis. I would caution about pages 16 and 17 concerning the Van Rompuy agenda. Let us tidy up what has gone wrong first before embarking on another phase. Europe needs a council of economic advisers, modelled on our own fiscal council, because the crisis has had such a drastic impact on mass unemployment in so many member states. Go raibh maith agat, a Thaoisigh.