SEANAD:THE INTEREST rate for this country's loans from the IMF and the EU was somewhat too high and should probably be 1 per cent less, president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek told the Seanad yesterday.

He said it was important that there not be just austerity measures but also growth in Ireland as part of the EU in the coming years. Everything should be done to achieve that, and competitiveness was not a bad starting point.

An interest rate reduction depended on the viewpoint of various international bodies, but they should be discussing the “problem”, the parliament’s president said in his address.

It was well known that institutions such as the IMF and the EU would like to get their money back so it was probably better to go down the interest rate cut route to enable this to happen. The European Parliament was attempting to create an atmosphere to assist Ireland in this regard.

Mr Buzek said he believed the previous government had negotiated the EU-IMF deal with this country’s best interests at heart, and that the current administration was right in seeking to improve its terms.

For Ireland to make a recovery it would need all the help it could get. He wished to make it clear that the EU and its institutions should not put pressure on Ireland to change its corporation tax rate “because you have achieved the guarantee according to the additional protocol to the Lisbon Treaty; that it is a matter of national competency”.

Members applauded his statement.

Mr Buzek said there was tremendous goodwill towards Ireland in EU institutions, and appreciation of the steps it was taking to address the economic situation in which it found itself.