European Affairs Committee Agrees to Undertake Examination of Terms of EU Loans to Ireland

The Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs had today agreed to invite all the principle protagonists including the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank to a meeting of the Committee in order to conduct a thorough analysis of the terms of recent loans granted to Ireland.

The Committee decided that this was necessary in order to establish whether or not Ireland has received the most favourable terms possible and to ascertain why we are paying the prescribed interest rates.

Committee Chairman, Bernard Durkan TD said;
“The Committee feels that it is worth scrutinising the nature of these huge loans. While we should welcome the EU’s willingness to support Ireland at this difficult time, the vast sums of money granted to Ireland by Europe and the IMF will unquestionably be a heavy burden on Ireland for several years.

Therefore, the Committee has decided to invite in representatives from all the main players involved in agreeing the loan and determining its provisions. We believe that people have a right to know how the details of the loans were arrived at, so we are hopeful that all those invited will respond positively to our requests.”
ENDS

Daniel English
Oireachtas Communications Unit
01 618 4484
087 6949926
The full membership of the Committee is:
Bernard Durkan, TD, Chairman (Fine Gael)
Timmy Dooley, TD Vice Chairman (Fianna Fáil)
Thomas Byrne, TD (Fianna Fáil)
Pat Breen TD, (Fine Gael)
Michael Creed TD, (Fine Gael)
Sean Barrett TD, (Fine Gael)
Michael Mulcahy TD, (Fianna Fáil)
Mary O'Rourke, TD (Fianna Fáil)
Beverley Flynn, TD (Fianna Fáil)
Sean Power, TD (Fianna Fáil)
Joanna Tuffy, TD, (Labour)
Brendan Howlin TD, (Labour)
Noel Treacy TD, (Fianna Fáil)
Senator Rónán Mullen, (Independent)
Senator Phil Prendergast, (Labour)
Senator Paschal Donohoe, (Fine Gael)
Senator Mary Geary, (Green Party)
Senator Terry Leyden, (Fianna Fáil)
Senator John Hanifan, (Fianna Fáil)
Senator Maurice Cummins, (Fine Gael)
Senator Feargal Quinn, (Independent)