Kenny responds to FF 'crisis' criticism

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny said he was unable to find “any file or shred of evidence” in his department relating to the previous government’s bank guarantee.

Mr Kenny was responding to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said there should be “less of the spin, less of the smart-alec politics” from the Taoiseach on the euro crisis.

Mr Kenny said the file was “either shredded or has been disposed of or dispatched: in other words, the Government has no evidence of the discussion that took place or of what Deputy Martin said when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs”.

He added that the bank guarantee had led to the bank recapitalisation and the subsequent bailout.

Mr Martin said Spain had no bank guarantee and it had a €100 billion recapitalisation.

Mr Martin said that the Irish people would prefer a greater degree of openness and transparency about what the Government was negotiating for relating to the debt and the promissory notes.

“The Taoiseach needs to be more open about that issue and more assertive about the wider euro zone crisis and our position in respect of it.

“The Taoiseach appears to be keeping his eyes closed, smiling and waiting for something to land in his lap.”

Mr Martin said the approach being adopted was generally minimalist, passive and acquiescent.

Mr Kenny said EU commissioner Olli Rehn had said on Monday that the Irish negotiations were progressing and that the commission and himself would support that situation being brought to a conclusion.

He had also said that Ireland deserved support and assistance with difficulties it had inherited from when Mr Martin’s party was in power.“That is what we will continue to do,” he added.

Asked by Mr Martin to publish the troika document, the Taoiseach said that it was not completed. “It is a very technical issue which Ministers have been negotiating for quite some time,” he added.

Pressed further by Mr Martin, he said he could not publish a paper which he had not seen and which was not yet fully completed.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said it was now clear that no crumbs from the table would be available for Ireland. “If the Taoiseach’s strategy had been to wait and see what the Spanish get, it is clear this strategy failed badly.”

She asked when the Government would move definitively to get a result for the State.

“There is no strategy,” she added. “The Taoiseach is waffling and fluffing around.”

Mr Kenny said negotiations were ongoing between Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, their officials and the troika.

The strategy was to bring about a re-engineering of the debt problem that Ireland had inherited so as to have longer-term repayments and lower interest rates.

Independent TD Shane Ross warned about “a euro Armageddon” approaching. He asked what the Government’s reaction would be to a banking union.

Mr Kenny said he would support it in principle, adding he believed it could be brought to conclusion a lot quicker than people might imagine.