Taoiseach Enda Kenny has downplayed the possibility of European fiscal unity, stressing that the immediate crisis calls for “fiscal discipline”.
"The crisis is now and it has got to be dealt with, with the facilities and tools that are now available," he told Independent Dublin South TD Shane Ross, who warned that Ireland could be surrendering sovereignty for the second time.
"The first surrender was to the European banks by the last government and that will be swopped if we get the deal which is looking possible, with the surrender of our independence to the bigger European nations," he said.
During leaders' questions in the Dáil, Mr Ross said German chancellor Angela Merkel had last week called for Europe to "take one big step towards fiscal union".
Mr Ross said he believed that the deal to be discussed by EU leaders on December 9th would have weaker EU countries "conceding fiscal union".
Mr Ross said next week's budget might be "one of the last meaningful budgets in the history of this State if events take the sort of shape they're looking to take in Europe in the next few weeks".
And he called on the Taoiseach "to assure the House that he will never put any referendum to the Irish people that permanently hands over our economic and fiscal sovereignty to any external European body".
The Taoiseach said Dr Merkel was talking about fiscal discipline, not unity.
"The chancellor's view is that if countries sign on for a set of conditions that these conditions should be seen to be enforceable and her view at the meeting I had with her was that the European Court of Justice should be enabled to impose sanctions upon a country that did not measure up in terms of its fiscal discipline in the way that it does its budgets.
"The French president takes a different view about the requirement for fiscal union, which is an entirely different matter," he said.
"The problem is that countries have signed on for conditions to which they have not adhered and this causes a lot of angst naturally for countries who are providing the loans," he said.
"Our country has never breached the growth and stability pact and is going to go further by legislating next year for debt break. I have no intention of doing anything disruptive to our corporate tax system and we will focus on every attempt that we can to retrieve our economic independence and sovereignty."