Irish MEPS pledge support to Greece

As an elected representative of the Irish people to the European Parliament I would like to distance myself from the remarks of An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in relation to how the new government of Greece should progress in its debt negotiations with the EU.

Like Greece, Ireland has suffered enormously under the austerity programme imposed by the Troika, a programme that has seen our national debt rise significantly while vital services are cut, new taxes and levies are imposed.

At worst Ireland should have maintained a neutral position on the efforts of the democratically elected new Greek government to renegotiate its position; at best we could have offered our support (and we still could, at informal Council meetings).