MINISTER OF State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton says she is confident that progress will soon be made on Ireland’s demand for a cut in the interest rate on its bailout loans.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on European affairs yesterday, Ms Creighton said she and her Government colleagues had discerned a “willingness and openness to move [the issue] on” in meetings with European counterparts, including the French.
“Contact is ongoing . . . I am optimistic that we will see progress on it,” she added, in response to questions from several members of the committee.
Ms Creighton argued that European Commission chief José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek were supportive of Ireland’s position, as were all EU member states apart from France. The French government has demanded that Ireland agree to a major concession on tax if the bailout interest rate is cut.
During the meeting, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn criticised what he said was “an absence of leadership and cohesion at European level” to deal with the euro crisis.
Ms Creighton lamented that when it came to Europe’s financial challenges, the EU did not have “the political leadership that we require”. Too many within the EU, she said, were guilty of putting national interests ahead of European interests. “We must end the blame game and work together to find a pragmatic solution.”
Ms Creighton said one of her priorities was to ensure more and better co-ordination between Government departments in relation to EU matters and Ireland’s engagement with Europe in general.
This, she said, would be “no easy task” because, she argued, it had been neglected under the previous government.