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A FRENCH CABINET minister with strong links to Ireland has said that president Francois Hollande’s government is committed to supporting Ireland in its push for a deal on legacy bank debt.
Hélène Conway-Mouret, the Minister responsible for French Nationals Abroad, has said that relations between Ireland and France have improved greatly since Hollande came to office five months ago in contrast to the tensions between the Taoiseach and previous president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Conway, who lived in Ireland for three decades and worked at Dublin Institute of Technology prior to taking up her cabinet position, was speaking to journalists at the French Embassy in Dublin yesterday.
“We see that even though Enda Kenny and Francois Hollande are not part of the same political family, the relationship between the two men is much better than it was with Nicolas Sarkozy,” she said.
Conway said that Hollande had even raised his meeting with Kenny at the government’s weekly cabinet meeting recently, the only time the Socialist president had raised a meeting with a head of state.
She continued: “He mentioned his meeting with Enda Kenny as practically warm and friendly with Ireland having this special place that needed the support of France.”
“I think it was an indication as to the impact of that meeting, it is very important that people can talk together and work together.
“I think France’s commitment now to supporting Ireland and recognising the unique position Ireland has been in for the past four years – being the first country to be hit by the crisis and having had to invent everything on its own to get out of it – [is ] now obviously deserving the support of France and I think Germany.”
Conway, who met with Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore this week, said this had been underlined by the support that Angela Merkel emphasised following a meeting with Kenny in Berlin this week in addition to the joint-communique the Kenny and Merkel issued nearly two weeks ago.
Ireland is looking for some relief on its €64 billion of legacy bank debt and hopes to be able to do this through retroactive use of the European Stability Mechanism, the permanent eurozone bailout fund.
Merkel had at first appeared reluctant to support Ireland but has since acknowledge that it is a ‘special case’ in terms of debt sustainability. Hollande has strongly supported Ireland’s cause in public comments.
Conway said that this had helped contribute to the softening of Merkel’s tone: “She [Merkel] has softened her take because she is following what Francois Hollande declared.
“There’s a shift there, and there’s a rebalancing in Europe as to as well what can be achieved and I think the understanding of the unique position of Ireland certainly.”
Conway said that the task of France’s relatively new government had been made difficult by the country’s “abysmal” debt. Polls have shown that support for Hollande has fallen significantly since the election.
However the minister said that there was a demand to address France’s high unemployment and deficit within 100 days which was not “realistic”. However she said that the government had helped to improve France’s bilateral relations with other countries, including Ireland.
She added: “What we have done is to overturn, give a kind of a new start as to the relationship we have with other countries.”
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A good & timely article. Unfortunately, we will never make progress as long as the deterrent, the sanction, is so miniscule as to be irrelevant. This is not even the fault of the judiciary as their hands are tied in that the maximum permitted ‘punishment’ for wildlife/ environmental crimes is so inconsequential. The stautes/legislation needs to be amended & updated as a matter of urgency
I agree we need enforcement of laws and bigger penalties but a greater emphasis needs to be on incentives for Farmers and landowners to steward the land in an environmentally sensitive way. It will also take some reeducation after decades of encouraging farmers to do exactly the opposite!
@Emma Smith: Morning Emma, ‘cart before the horse’ though isn’t it? Proper enforcement AND serious sanctions need to be front& centre
So it’s the farmers’ fault – and it often is.
But no mention of the Mourne mountain fire, started by an arsonist. Or the Killarney fire, started by a portable barbacue – not a typical farmers item.
Ireland has less than 2% native forests. The rest are non native evergreens. It would be nice to replace them with native trees.
@Shane Gallagher: Why? They won’t produce lumber to build your home or make paper.
@Hunt Ley: Evergreen forests in Ireland are not grown to be used for construction or producing paper. We import those products. The main intended purpose for evergreen forests was to offset carbon dioxide emissions. The government provides grants to landowners willing to use their land for forestry.
OK. If a fire begins naturally, say from lightening, should we as humans, interfere and put that fire out or allow it to burn uncontrollably?
@AnthonyK: Humans planted forests and built houses and would naturally protect them.
@AnthonyK: Before we were brainwashed into thinking that paradise is somewhere else we used to worship nature and the natural world. Real shame those belief systems were not allowed to evolve really, we would certainly be more involved with maintaining and utilising the planet, we’re so far from anything like that tho, addicted to the effects of another human construct, that of wealth.
Pádraic, do us one on why we should be re introducting the Beaver, a move that would do more for the restoration of our natural state than any other. “Oh but they were never here” – bollocks.!
@Nicholas Grubb: But sure they weren’t.
What a load of absolute nonsense article
Where is my comment that was posted hours ago? Just because it disagrees with Fogarty’s anti forestry distribution is no reason to remove it.
Fogarty is neither a forester nor a silviculutist. Just because he limes trees foes not make him an authority.
Shame on the Journal for partisan censorship.
@Hunt Ley: What do you expect its like China for the propaganda on the journal.
Maybe an approach of eco tourism in areas the farmers get tax free earnings from cycling, walking, wildlife photography individuals or groups bed and breakfast for the particular months mentioned not to cut or till the land would maybe help nature. Any damage to the local area by farmers or county council will result in fines or cut back in county council amount of money given by central government. Farmers any EU funding also cut as a deterrent.
have your say