30 Apr 2013, 17:39
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs this afternoon heard from the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland Prof Patrick Honohan on the current moves afoot towards banking union.
30 April 2013
Chairman of the Committee Dominic Hannigan TD said: “Committee Members thank Prof Honohan for a stimulating and enlightening discussion on an evolving Economic and Monetary Union, in which we discussed in detail the moves towards full banking union Europe-wide. Prof Honohan warned that the pace of such reforms must continue and any complacency among policymakers due to the relative calm in the financial markets should be avoided.
“Securing democratic accountability and legitimacy in ever closer integration was raised by a number of Committee Members. We heard Prof Honohan acknowledge that the crisis had eroded public trust in European institutions and we engaged on the scope that exists for improving decision making structures at EU level. Instancing the recent difficulties in Cyprus, Prof Honohan spoke on the need to find an alternative to the nature of EU negotiations, which were prone to rushed decisions taken late at night.
“Prof Honohan argued that states like Ireland should be sensitive in any requests for further EU funding. He said that the pushing out of the terms and lowering of the interest rates of promissory notes and loans had considerably helped Ireland’s financial position. He noted that continued fiscal discipline would form the basis of the country’s ability to receive future assistance from the European Union.”
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Committee Membership
Deputies
Dominic Hannigan, TD (Chairman)
Paschal Donohoe, TD (Vice-Chairman)
Seán Crowe, TD
Timmy Dooley, TD
Bernard J Durkan, TD
John Halligan, TD
Seán Kyne, TD
Joe O’Reilly, TD
Senators
Colm Burke,
Fidelma Healy Eames,
James Heffernan,
Terry Leyden,
Kathryn Reilly