I did not know there are so many economists in the House. We all have sympathy for the plight of the Greek people. Regardless of whether they voted "Yes" or "No", both sides were pro-Europe, pro-euro and anti-austerity.

They voted Oxi, which means "No".

Any decent and respectable citizen would share that opinion. All of us want to keep them in the Union and in the eurozone. Senator Cullinane spoke about debt restructuring. There must, of course, be debt restructuring but I think he meant debt write-off.

What is wrong with that?

They cannot have a debt write-off. There is no support for a debt write-off in Europe.

Of course they can.

That would impose the burden on taxpayers in every poor country.

They are never going to get their money anyway.

It is very simple.

Has the Senator a question for the Leader?

I have, of course.

They are never going to get their money anyway.

Allow Senator Coghlan to speak without interruption.

Of course there must be debt restructuring and re-profiling. It is very simple. It happened in our case. I accept that the Greek situation is worse. Of course the maturities need to be lengthened and the interest rates lowered.

We are still mired in debt.

I hope the Greeks are sensible in what they bring to the table this evening. It is plain that Mr. Varoufakis had to go. Mr. Tsipras insisted on his departure, and was supported by his other colleagues in doing so, because Mr. Varoufakis had openly insulted everybody in the last few months.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

It is shocking that he would insult somebody.

I have no doubt that he would get on famously with Senator Norris. I would like to see the Senator on the back of his bike.

I would get on his bike any day.

He was never serious about negotiating. At least Senator Norris would be wise enough to wear a helmet.

Senator Bradford referred to clashes between Kerry Senators. I want to put it on the record that I have never clashed with Senator Ned O'Sullivan.

I agree with Senator Coghlan on the issue of responsibility around debt but I remind the House that Germany, which is now the strongest industrial nation in Europe, was given a significant debt write-down after the Second World War and it only recently finished repaying that debt after 70 years. We are hearing horrific accounts of families sending their children to orphanages because they cannot feed them and, while I wish the negotiations well this week, Greece needs a humane plan for the short term to keep its people alive.

We are rightly shocked by the accounts from Greece but I have been shocked to hear accounts of pregnant women who are homeless in Dublin city. We heard a presentation on the issue this afternoon. Currently 17 pregnant women are waiting for accommodation in Dublin city.

They have nowhere to go except to hostels. Last week one pregnant lady was living in a squat and another in a tent at the back of a derelict house. Pregnant women who are homeless are known as the hidden homeless. They cannot and do not beg on the streets. If they have another child it is illegal to do that, while men can. At the moment 1,034 children in 490 families are in emergency accommodation in Dublin.

A social worker from Holles Street described the appalling situation of a young woman, a diabetic, who has to move out of her hostel at 9 a.m. She has nowhere to store insulin and she cannot cook appropriate food for her health. Last Christmas we had an emergency with homelessness. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and others sat around the table, and we felt there was some alleviation of the problem. Today that social worker and others from Life Pregnancy Care Ireland have said things have not improved. It is the worst accommodation crisis ever. I ask for a statement on the matter from the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government prior to the summer break. How can we let our pregnant women go homeless?

The Senator is way over time.

This is appalling.

I call Senator Gilroy.

We also need the long-term picture about the private sector being enlisted to help with this accommodation crisis.

I call Senator Gilroy.

With an extra €20,000 on a semi-detached house, the private sector will not bolt into action to solve the accommodation crisis. I look forward to the Leader's response.

While I also express my solidarity with the people of Greece, it seems that the argument about debt relief has become a battle of ideologies rather than a battle of answers. The Government took the very pragmatic step in putting the national interest first by negotiating with the best hand it had in a quiet manner. While there will be many critics of this, there are no queues today at banks in Ireland to make cash withdrawals. The pharmacies here have medicines. People here can spend money because they have money. If we had listened to the counsel of some of our opponents on the strategy being pursued, we might have found ourselves in that position.

Labour Party Members said something different when they were in opposition.

I remember their charge about economic treason.

Senator Gilroy without interruption.

With the benefit of hindsight we can see how awful and hateful that decision was, but also probably how necessary it was. If foresight was as good as hindsight, we would not have any problem. I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister for Finance to come to the Seanad to discuss the issue. Ireland has direct exposure of €365 million, which is our contribution to the ESM. I believe I heard of an overall Irish exposure of €2.4 billion to a Greek default or write-off.

The Greek debt stands at $370 billion. According to the World Bank, the debt for the entire continent of Africa last year stood at $390 billion. The Greek debt is the same size as the debt of 54 African countries. We are asking here if we can write off debt. In light of that figure, we need to know where our priorities should lie.