Another report.

Once again the Taoiseach-----

Please stay quiet and allow the Deputy to ask his question. There is a time limit on this. Will Deputies please pay the courtesy to the Chair of allowing the Deputy to ask his question, without the interruptions from both sides? Thank you.

The Taoiseach has another European crisis summit. In his interview in The Irish Times today he spent most of his time explaining why the issues affecting this State will not be raised by him. That has been his constant mantra before and after every summit he has attended. Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach if he would bring a jobs stimulus plan to this summit; the answer was "No". I asked if he had concrete proposals about how the EU structural funds should work; the answer was "No". I asked if he had explored how funds from the European Investment Bank could be used in conjunction with the National Pensions Reserve Fund to stimulate growth and jobs; the answer was "No". He stated his position: "It is not Ireland that is in focus at this time." That is his explanation for not raising these issues.

He also welcomed the Van Rompuy report which sets out a charter for closer EU integration on a banking, fiscal and political union. The Taoiseach must know this means more co-ordination on tax policy, even more dilution of Irish sovereignty and stronger EU involvement in State budgets. Is that not the real reason he is not bringing forward his own proposals for growth that would get our people back to work? Is it not because he supports these federal EU propositions?

Deputy Adams is wrong on all counts, as he usually is. This Government has repeatedly made the case at European level, both politically and at official level-----

Pass the point.

-----for the need for growth, jobs and a stimulus to drive and encourage movement in the European economies. The meetings on Thursday and Friday will deal with an increase in funding that is available from the European Investment Bank which, in turn, will leverage further moneys but it has to be made available to countries that are in vulnerable positions or those such as Ireland that are in a programme. That is the first answer, a "Yes", which Ireland will articulate very strongly.

Second, I refer to the approval of project bonds. This is an opportunity for flexibility to be shown by Europe in respect of these bonds which have only applied to huge intercontinental infrastructural developments such as motorways, autobahns or railroads. Project bonds would be useful for smaller countries but flexibility must be shown in that regard. That is an issue I will articulate, along with a number of other smaller countries, namely, that as part of the growth and jobs stimulus project bonds should be flexible enough to cater for smaller countries.

Third, I refer to creative ways of using structural funds that remain unspent in countries. This country has spent all the structural funds that were allocated to it. Greece, for example, was allocated €16 billion which it cannot spend because of the requirement to put up moneys from a national perspective. In an overall sense, significant amounts of structural funds will not be spent. The political challenge is to find a creative way of not withdrawing money from envelopes allocated to individual countries but finding a facility whereby when money is not spent over a range of countries a creative way can be found to use it.

Some €100 billion of new money went to Spanish banks.

Romania, for example, cannot draw down all its structural funds and there are a number of other problems in that regard. In those three areas, in respect of the growth and jobs agenda, Ireland will be very strong in articulating what is in both our interest and the interest of the eurozone. The problem, however, is the banking crisis and that is the issue for Friday's meeting. The problem we face here is that if one accepts the principle of European decision-making and sharing of liability, the corollary is also true. In Ireland's case what happened was that the direction was given from Europe and the Government lay down in front of it and accepted that the Irish people should shoulder all of that liability. That is where there needs to be change. That is the design flaw that applies within the eurozone.

As I stated in that interview, the eurozone banking crisis is holding back this and every other country. As an exporting nation we need other European economies to be thriving and getting stronger so that they will buy our goods. Europe as a whole buys from other countries around the world; it is a global situation. The real opportunity on Friday is for political leadership. Speculators and those who write and comment can say what they like. This must be a political process with a political decision that will set clarity of structure and strategy in which markets and investors can have confidence and understand the strength of and the future of the euro and the eurozone. That is a political problem that must be dealt with by political leaders. We - and I - will articulate this. I will articulate that argument very strongly on behalf of the Irish Government and the people. What was accepted in the past is the cause of the problem. The principle of acceptance of European decision making and sharing of liability was not applied in the case of this country - to our cost.

Once again, the Taoiseach has totally ignored the question. He also engaged in extreme revisionism.

You would know a lot about that.

Never in the IRA.

Shake the hand that shook the hand.

Without interruption, please. Thank you.

What was the question I put to the Taoiseach? It was about his support for the Van Rompuy proposals for a federal Europe. His rhetoric about wanting to be the Taoiseach who restores sovereignty is only that. It is like the nonsense from his partners in the Labour Party. The fact is he is not bringing forward proposals for job stimulus

Where are your proposals?

He is not bringing forward any of the propositions we put to him.

A question, please. Thank you.

He knows there needs to be a clear plan for renewal, growth, jobs and investment but his Government does not have that. There needs to be a clean-up of the toxic banking debt.

A question, please. Thank you.

His Government does not have that.

Shake the hand.

Le do thoil, a Cheann Comhairle.

Please stop the behind the scenes shouting. Please put your question, Deputy Adams. There is one minute for a supplementary question.

The question is this. It is only a month since we had a referendum on the austerity treaty, which was advocated by the Government and Fianna Fáil. We pointed out at the time that it would not work.

What is the question? Please put the question. Will the usual suspects ever stay quiet, just for two more minutes?

Will the Taoiseach accept that the people who voted, through gritted teeth-----

The Deputy has only one minute left.

He has abdicated responsibility.

-----in favour of that treaty will feel very badly let down by him when he says to them, "Before you go". Imagine if this was a Munster final.

Thank you, Deputy. We will get the Munster final next month.

Ireland is not the focus at this time. Why turn up? The Taoiseach is going as a spectator instead of a player and I am very disappointed in that.

The Deputy is wrong again. I reported to the other political leaders on the Government's publication of its own action plan for jobs nationally, with 270 propositions to open the doors of business. I reported and discussed with the other leaders the renegotiation of the memorandum of understanding by the Government in respect of job opportunities and taking the lower paid out of a requirement for certain payments and so on. In addition, I presented a report to the other leaders in respect of small and medium enterprises and how the doors for opportunities could be opened. That will be reported on again and responded to by the Commission very shortly.

The Van Rompuy report sets out a strategy for greater cohesion but for the development of the eurozone and the European Union. I support the question-----

Sin é.

-----of creative use of Structural Funds. I support the question of flexibility for project bonds suitable for smaller countries and I support the leveraging up of extra finance for the European Investment Bank.

European integration.

I expect to meet the head of the European Investment Bank here shortly.

A federal European Union.

The Deputy should know this is about the opportunity to provide other moneys for infrastructure here, be it bundles of schools, primary care centres or other pieces of infrastructure. In that sense it is not about a federal Europe, which I do not support.

The Deputy mentioned the phrase "extreme revisionism". This is a day of particular significance for the country. For the Deputy, extreme revisionism is something that he could be open about now because while we differ here on all of these political issues, there is one thing that I have in common with him-----

Just one.

-----and it is that in the context of extreme revisionism neither he nor I were members of the IRA or the IRA army council.

I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

I thank the Taoiseach for that.