EUROPEAN UNION RULES:IRELAND WILL not be the only country to fall foul of European Union borrowing rules even if it is likely to do so earlier than other member states, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said.
Speaking in Galway, the Minister said: "It is possible that Ireland will cross that line this year, but it is also probable that many other member states will cross that line next year."
His remarks are a clear indication that the Government will oppose any attempt by the European Commission to penalise Ireland for breaching EU borrowing limits.
However, he dismissed arguments that Ireland will be singled out by the commission. "The commission doesn't bully Ireland. They are anxious to be helpful."
Meanwhile, he said Irish banks and other financial institutions were "robust and well-positioned" to survive the current crisis affecting the global markets.
He said he had "every confidence" that they would be able to "work through" the difficulties - despite their exposure to the construction industry.
"The fact that there were four large investment banks on Wall Street yesterday and there are two today is a significant development in world finance, and it points to the resilience of Irish financial institutions that they have weathered the storm to date," he told journalists as he attended the two-day meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
He went on: "On the basis of the knowledge available to me the Irish banking system is robust, well-positioned to survive the current difficult conditions.
"There is no exposure to sub-prime lending by Irish banks. The tradition in Irish banking has been to keep mortgages in-house and not to trade or discount the mortgages in the markets.
"There are exposures in Irish banking to commercial lending because there are substantial amounts loaned to the construction sector.
"The banks are working through those difficulties. The difficulties in that area have already been discounted in their share prices. I have every confidence from my discussions with the banks that they will be in a position to work through those difficulties."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, once more declined to lay out the Government's plans to cope with the outcome of the Lisbon Treaty referendum. "In terms of clarity on the issue in how we would proceed I think you are looking at the end of the year before you will have some degree of clarity in how the Government will proceed."
Asked if that meant that a definitive timetable will be available by then, Mr Martin replied cautiously: "It would be our intention for the December meeting to be in a position to clarify to our partners in Europe the direction ahead."
