Financial Assistance (Ireland)

Lord Darling of Roulanish Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I should also mention that Members who were not here at the start of the Chancellor’s statement should not expect to be called. That is what I said in respect of the previous statement and that is our usual practice, to which I think we should adhere.

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I agree with the Chancellor that it is in our country’s interests to do everything we can to help Ireland through its present difficulties. Although he and I agree that I was right to keep us out of the eurozone support fund, some money coming from Europe is partly subscribed by us and also the IMF—but does that not demonstrate that it is in our interests? The fact that he is also willing to make bilateral loans available to Ireland demonstrates that it is our interests to sort out the problems in Ireland. Although he does not have the details, can he tell us how much of that money from us and from other sources will be used to restructure and recapitalise the Irish banks, which is absolutely necessary in Ireland and also, I suspect, in a number of other countries in Europe?

[Mr Osborne]

I very much welcome what the right hon. Gentleman has said, and of course I agree that it is in our national interests, and indeed the interests of other European Union member states, that we bring some stability to Ireland. He is right, as his question implies, to focus on the banking system. The situation in Ireland is different from the situation that Greece found itself in earlier this year, with which he had to deal when he was Chancellor.

On the question of the breakdown between the amount of money going to the banking system and the amount going to fund the sovereign, I am afraid that I cannot give the right hon. Gentleman the exact figures, because they are still being negotiated, but I would say that most of the money will be used to take the sovereign out of the market for a period, and a substantial minority of the amount will be required for a fund to help the Irish banking system.