No recall for Kenny and Noonan

THERE ARE no plans to recall the Cabinet from summer holidays in response to turmoil in financial market and growing concerns…

THERE ARE no plans to recall the Cabinet from summer holidays in response to turmoil in financial market and growing concerns over the debt burden of Italy and Spain.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan have been in regular contact with senior officials in their departments and have had a number of briefings.

Government sources said there was little point in Ministers being recalled as Ireland was fulfilling the targets set out the bailout package and, moreover, the crisis is a global and European one in dimension.

"Little can be sorted out in Dublin. As far as the euro zone goes, Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels is where it is going to happen," said one source.

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The Taoiseach's spokesman said that the actions the Government was in a position to take were limited at this point, adding there was "ongoing constant contact at official and political level with our colleagues in Europe about ongoing developments".

The latest crisis erupted just before the ratings agency Standard & Poor's gave a more positive rating to Ireland than Moody's did last month.

"Given this ongoing crisis, it is especially positive Standard & Poor's have reaffirmed our investment grade credit rating," said a Department of Finance spokesman.

"The continuation of the stable credit watch is also an additional positive," he said.

The spokesman said it was positive that action was being taken and that EU leaders were focusing on the problem.

"It is quite clear that this crisis is at an EU and global level, as set out by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso on Thursday.

"Ireland is on the periphery of this crisis and as demonstrated over recent years we will work with our EU partners to find and credible and workable solution," said the spokesman.

Fianna Fáil spokesman on public expenditure Seán Fleming called for an international summit of the heads of the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve and the Central Bank of China.

He said a new approach was urgently required to deal with the global difficulties.