Taoiseach welcomes proposals put forward by Greece

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has welcomed the new proposals put forward by the Greek government before the 11pm deadline on its bailout.

Mr Kenny said in the Dáil: “I’m glad a new paper has been put on the table by Greece over the last period”.

He told Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams Ireland had contributed €350 million to the first bailout programme for Greece. He said Ireland was already in a programme during the second Greek programme and did not contribute.

“I’m glad Greek authorities have now tabled a new paper. It’s the basis for discussions and negotiation.”

Mr Kenny referred to the letter he had sent to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras in which he said “I regretted the fact that the negotiators on behalf of the Greek government were taken away from the negotiating table and that they should return to resume discussions.”

The Taoiseach said “I was glad that following the response from the leaders to whom the Greek prime minister wrote, that the Greek authorities have now tabled a new paper”.

He said “the question of a referendum could have been raised over the last number of months though it came at the very end”.

Mr Adams said the crisis around Greece was about power and punishment. The Greek government was “upholding the values of solidarity and cooperation claimed by the European movement and they’re punished for this”.

He claimed the Government contributed in a real way to the current crisis. He said last Monday Minister for Finance Michael Noonan pressed for emergency finance to Greece to be stopped unless capital controls were imposed.

“And on Sunday Mr Noonan got his way when the ECB froze its funding line to Greek banks.”

He accused Mr Kenny of showing no empathy for the Greek people. “You railed against the idea of debt write down for Greeks. That’s no surprise. You never asked for one for Irish people either.”

Mr Adams added: “But Taoiseach you have written off hundreds of millions for companies in debt in this State including write-downs from State-owned and nationalised banks.

“Greece owes this State €300 million. Denis O’Brien secured that much in debt write-downs from the IBRC.”

He said Fine Gael and Labour opposed a write-down for Greece because it exposed the failure of the Government to demand the same thing for this State.”

Mr Kenny said Ireland was not the central player in this and had a deep understanding, more than most and an empathy with the people of Greece in respect of what happened.

He said at EU meetings the Greek prime minister had insisted that they did not want to default. He said Ireland had contributed €350 million to the first Greek programme and if it got to that stage there would probably be a third programme for Greece which Ireland would be asked to contribute to.

Mr Kenny said he had calls from a European leader who said he would not get through his parliament an extension of the bailout. “That’s democracy also,” Mr Kenny said.

Earlier the Taoiseach defended his remarks in a letter to the Greek prime minister that the Government had not increased Vat, PRSI or income tax.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused Mr Kenny of “hectoring and lecturing” the Greek government and “telling untruths”.

Mr Martin said “most people found those remarks incredible”. He said he did not know if Mr Kenny was trying to tell Mr Tsipras that if he pretended, then “everything will be all right”.

He said VAT increased from 21 per cent to 23 per cent. The PRSI weekly allowance was abolished and self-employed PRSI was significantly increased. He said there were 45 taxes and charges.

The Taoiseach said howeve the Greek prime minister in discussions had made a particular point about how important and fundamental tourism was to Greece. He also highlighted the distance between islands and how difficult it was to implement VAT.

“My comments in relation to Vat and PRSI and income tax were in that context,” Mr Kenny said.

He reminded the House that the Government reduced VAT on tourism products to 9 per cent in 2011 “in first 100 days of this Government”.

Mr Kenny said: “We did cut VAT for the tourism sector and abolished the air travel tax. We cut the lower rate of employers PRSI for three years and we kept our promise not to increase the standard rate of employers PRSI.”

He added: “We replaced the onerous Anglo-Irish promissory note and we reached agreement to replace expensive loans” with cheaper long-term finance.

The Taoiseach also said there was no increase in income tax in the budgets of 2012, 2013 and 2014 and that 742,000 people benefited from tax changes in Budget 2015.