The EU banking crisis may have to be dealt with before the EU summit at the end of June, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Dáil.
He said it would be a central issue at the summit but there “may need to be serious reflection” on the issue before then.
Mr Kenny also told Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin he would write today to all EU leaders about the necessity for politicians to deal with debt “possible changes to the ESM”.
The Government “will not waste any opportunity to make this case that the political leaders now need to decide on the strategy” for the future.
He also acknowledged the difficulties for Ireland in getting agreement on debt relief.
It did not follow “automatically that because a country were to get a particular facility extended to them that it should apply across the board”, he told Independent TD Shane Ross.
But he said “there was a strong case for political justice to be seen in respect of facilities being given to one country and another”.
He also said resolving the issue would be a “tortuous and complex process” and there were “no simple quick-fix solutions”.
After reports that Germany was against reduction of Ireland’s debt, the Taoiseach told the Dáil officials quoted were not politicians.
Resolving the issue would require “consideration and assessment and decision by political leaders” not technocrats or just officials.
A deal on the banking crisis however “would have very beneficial effects on Ireland both in meeting liabilities and emerge from the EU-IMF bailout and be the first EU country to do so”.
The Taoiseach declined to reveal the details of his phone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel, except for her congratulations to the Irish electorate for a Yes vote in the fiscal treaty.
Pressed repeatedly by Mr Martin and Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams about the conversation, Mr Kenny dismissed the notion that the issue could be sorted “in a phone call”.
Mr Martin told the Taoiseach “you made a big deal about the phone call”.
Mr Adams warned Mr Kenny that in the wake of the Yes vote the Government “must fulfil its referendum commitments” on growth, jobs and “in terms of the bank burden”.
He said reminded the Taoiseach that you’ve never raised these issues at summits or at meetings with other European leaders”.
Mr Ross said it was not unreasonable to ask Europe to respond to Ireland’s vote for stability. “We want a bank deal on the agenda,” he said.
Asked for assurances that a financial transaction tax would not be imposed, Mr Kenny said growth, investment and stimulus could not just be applied to 25 countries. He said decisions in relation to taxation matters require unanimity and there was “violent opposition” expressed at past meetings about a financial transaction tax.
Ireland does not support the financial transaction tax unless it applies on a global sense, he said. "It should not apply in Dublin if it does not apply in London."
