The Greek crisis is about power and punishment. The Greek Government is upholding the values of solidarity and co-operation claimed by the European movement, and has been punished for it. The Greek Government is standing up for Greece and its citizens, who are being punished by hostile EU institutions, many of them unelected, the IMF and some EU governments, including the Irish Government. The Irish Government has contributed in a real way to the crisis. According to the Financial Times, last Monday the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and the German finance Minister, pressed for emergency financial support for Greek banks to be stopped unless capital controls were imposed.

That is nonsense. It is a lie.

On Sunday, the Minister, Deputy Noonan, got his way when the ECB froze its funding line to Greek banks. Last week, the Taoiseach railed against the idea of debt write-down and debt relief for the Greek people. It was no big surprise, given that he never asked for a debt write-down for the Irish people. However, he has written off hundreds of millions of euro in debt for companies in this State, including write-downs from State-owned and nationalised banks. Greece owes the State €300 million. Denis O'Brien secured that much in debt write-downs from IBRC, a State-owned bank, and the Government thinks it is okay. The Government thinks debt write-downs are okay for some people but not for the people of Greece. Is it not true that Fine Gael and the Labour Party oppose a write-down for Greece because it would expose the Government's failure to demand the same for the people of this state? Will the Government set aside its party political concerns and support the Greek Government's request for more time? It is a simple request. The Taoiseach received a letter from the Greek Prime Minister asking for support, which he refused. I ask him to reconsider and to support the Greek Government's request for more time to negotiate a fair settlement.

Ireland is a part of the eurozone. We are not the central player in this, although clearly we have a deep understanding - more so than most - and an empathy with the people of Greece in respect of what is happening now. Deputy Adams knows better than anyone else in this House how many times over the past endless years that negotiations broke down and people walked away from the table. At the end of the day, it requires people to sit down and work out a solution. That also applies in this case.

When the Greek Prime Minister spoke at the European Council on Thursday and Friday, as distinct from the eurozone, he again made the point that his country and his Government did not want to default.

We know this.

These are not the words of Deputy Adams. They are the words of Prime Minister Tsipras addressing the European Council.

I want to hear words from the Taoiseach.

He made the point that his country did not want to default, would not default and would move on. The agreement and understanding at that meeting was that the eurozone Ministers who were meeting on the following Saturday would work diligently, as they had throughout the week, to put together an acceptable, fair and workable outcome to this difficulty. Late in the evening, the negotiators on behalf of the Greek Government were withdrawn at the direction of Athens. Following the response from the institutions and other political leaders, I hope the authorities, the Prime Minister and his people will come back to the table to work out an acceptable position. I am glad a new paper has been put on the table by Greece. For our part as a country contributing to the European Union, we contributed €350 million to the first programme for Greece. As we were in a programme on the second occasion, we did not contribute then. There may be a requirement for a further programme at the end of the year, if events get that far, in which case Ireland will probably be expected to contribute. The question arises of what will happen in the referendum because it is the sovereign right of a country to hold a referendum.

Deputy Adams spoke about democracy. I took calls from European leaders, including one who considered that it would not be possible to pass a motion to extend the bailout programme through the leader's parliament because of the number of parties in the parliament in question. That is also democracy. The question of a referendum could have been raised over recent months but it arose at the very end and it remains to be seen what will happen between now and Sunday. I am glad the Greek authorities have tabled a new paper. It will at least be a basis for discussion and negotiation. Ireland, along with our European colleagues, will help in every way we can in dealing with this issue. This country was on the edge just a few years ago and if we applied what has happened in Greece to our situation, one could understand the difficulties and hardship that would have been imposed on people. There is a way out of this, and it starts at the table.

Despite the Taoiseach's protestations, he showed no evidence of sympathy with people in Greece. I am not surprised by his refusal to adopt a more reasonable and compassionate position towards the people of that country. The Greek Government has presented reasonable proposals, and will send a briefing document to anyone who wants it, on growing the economy while protecting pensioners and those on low and middle incomes.

If we had followed Deputy Adams, the lights would have gone out years ago.

The Taoiseach does not favour that approach. He is also opposed to the debt conference and debt write-down which the Greek Government sought. He chose instead to impose austerity on those in this State who were least able to pay for it. Last week he claimed that, in tackling the economic crisis here, his Government did not increase income tax, VAT or PRSI. That is patently not true. The Government raised income and consumption taxes, as well as introducing water charges and a property tax. He opted for forced emigration, with the result that 500,000 of our citizens are scattered across the globe. One third of children live in consistent poverty. The sick and the elderly end up on trolleys instead of hospital beds. Today, 426 citizens are on trolleys. They and the homeless are paying the price for the Taoiseach's austerity policies. It is little wonder he has no empathy. His real concern is a political one. The Greek Government has made it clear it wants to remain in the eurozone. Is it not time for the European Union to make clear its desire to keep Greece in the eurozone by negotiating a solution that does not impose years of economic depression on the Greek people? Will the Taoiseach use this opportunity to make it clear on behalf of Irish citizens that he will endorse and champion such a solution?

On behalf of the people, I have already written formally to the Prime Minister to express my regret at the fact that the negotiators for the Greek Government were taken away from the negotiating table and to seek their return to resume discussions. I am glad that, following the response from the leaders with whom the Prime Minister corresponded, the Greek authorities have tabled a new paper. At the eurozone leaders' meeting there was no discussion about a debt write-down. There was a direct reference to the question of reprofiling Greece's debt. That could have happened if the authorities and the institutions had put together a deal during their meeting on Saturday, which would then be endorsed and supported by the Greek Government and put through the Dutch, German and Finnish parliaments, as is required. A review of the implementation of that programme, which would continue until October or November, could consider the question of reprofiling Greek debt. As Deputy Adams will be aware, in Ireland's case we reprofiled various elements of our debt, including interest loan reductions, the extension of maturities on loans and the question of dealing with the promissory notes for a longer term and at lower interest rates, an issue the Deputy raised in this House on numerous occasions. When the Deputy suggested that the European Union should be told to go and stuff itself, I assume that he did not take into account the Structural Funds, the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Social Fund and the billions of euro which flowed to this country because of our membership of the European Union and which transformed the country over the past 40 years. Ireland empathises with the people in Greece. Deputy Adams might pretend to be the Greek party in Ireland but his own economics have given the lie to that because they do not stand up.

We are an Irish party in Ireland.

I hope Prime Minister Tsipras and his people return to the negotiating table. This is a matter which can be solved but it will only be solved through negotiations at a political level. The Greek authorities, for their own reasons, withdrew their negotiating team. My request is that they come back to the negotiating table to work out a solution. We will help in every way we can.