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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Well then, one of David Cameron’s biggest risks in laying out his vision for Europe is alienating Britain’s European allies. Ireland is of course one of Britain’s closest allies in the EU but its Deputy Prime Minister, Eamon Gilmore, said this week that Britain cannot pick and choose what it wants from the Europe. The EU, in his words, is not an a la carte menu. Let’s say a very good morning now to Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Eamon Gilmore and of course Ireland is well into the second week of its presidency of the European Union, in that role would Ireland say to the UK be careful how you handle all this talk of a potential withdrawal from the EU, you’re in danger of rocking the boat?

EAMON GILMORE: Well I think first of all in our role as presidency of the European Union I think what we would say to Britain and to all of the 27 member states of the Union is that we must concentrate on the priorities that the European Union faces at the moment and in our view, the biggest priority that we face is the employment crisis, the economic situation, the necessity for the European economy to grow and for jobs to be created and in particular, to address the huge problem of youth unemployment in Europe. One out of every four young people are out of work in Europe and irrespective of whether you are a 23 year old coming out of college in Liverpool or Lille or Limerick, your main priority is to try and get a job and I think that the focus of all of the European Union now and the entire leadership of the European Union and of its member states needs to be concentrated on what we need to do in Europe in order to create the circumstances for employment to be created, particularly for young people and that’s why the Irish presidency is giving priority to completing the single market, to expanding the digital single market, to getting trade agreements between the European Union and the United States and other countries which will help the European economy to grow by about 2%. The United Kingdom is particularly important in that work because these are areas where Britain has already made a huge contribution over the years in the area of the single market, in the area of advancing trade. Britain and Ireland have walked hand in hand, really since we joined the European Economic Community together in 1973, forty years ago, we walked hand in hand together in advancing these areas, in advancing the single market, in advancing trade agreements and I believe that we shall continue to do so now.

DM: But it’s interesting what you say, Mr Gilmore, about that, about one of the biggest scourges of modern economic times about youth unemployment and your analysis of a Europe, an EU wide approach to it, therefore closer integration in many of the things you’re talking about but Britain is against that, Britain wants to go the other way.

EG: Well I think you have to look at how modern economy is organised. We are interdependent, we do trade with each other. The European Union is a market now of 500 million people, it is the biggest concentration of purchasing power in the world. It has been going through some difficulties economically, I hope that we are coming out of those now and I think the proposals that are being advanced at European level for banking union will help to do that but I think what we need to concentrate on in Europe at the moment are the measures that are needed to get the European economy to grow again and jobs to be created and that effects member states right across Europe, it affects Ireland, Britain, it affects all of the member states of Europe and I think there are things that we can do together and I think we should concentrate on doing those.

DM: But this issue of the UK picking and choosing what it wants from Europe, you said it yourself, do you say to the UK, look, you just can’t do that. You joined up to this and you went into it with your eyes wide open.

EG: Well let me say at the very beginning that I think that the whole issue of Britain’s relationship with the European Union is of course a matter for the British people, the British parliament and I respect that. There is flexibility within the European Union treaties and there are areas for example where countries can participate or not participate. The euro for example, Ireland is a member of the euro, Britain is not; the Schengen Agreement, both Britain and Ireland are not part of that, so there are areas where countries don’t have to participate and there is a degree of flexibility on that but I think where there cannot be flexibility is on the core conditions of membership. You cannot have a European Union if you end up with 27 different forms of membership and when I spoke during the week about the issue of Britain in or out and I was asked to comment on that debate and while we respect of course that this is very much a British matter, we have an interest in it. Ireland is very close to Britain, we’re close geographically, we share responsibility for the implementation of the Agreement in Northern Ireland, we’re very close together in trade terms of course historically we joined the European Union at the same time and we’ve had a similar outlook on many issues and I don't think it is possible to have 27 different forms of membership of the European Union. Secondly, and as I’ve said earlier, I believe that what we need to concentrate on now at this critical time, is on the things that Europe needs to do to generate employment and to get growth back into the European economy.

DM: And on the issue of renegotiation, Ireland itself, the party you lead, advocating it wants to renegotiate the issue of the interest rate you pay on some of these bonds that you bailed your banks out with.

EG: Well that’s not a European … that’s not a condition of European Union membership, that was an agreement that was made by the previous government with the European Union and the European Central Bank and the IMF and we made no secret of the fact at the time of the last election that a new government would renegotiate the terms of that agreement and we’ve been doing that. We have secured a reduction in the interest rate, we have now secured agreement at European Union level that bank debt and state debt will be separated, there will now be a banking union and indeed one of the responsibilities that Ireland will have during the six months of our presidency is to advance the legislation which will allow that banking union to come into effect and we have been in negotiations for some time with the European Central Bank about the repayment of what are called the promissory notes, this was the agreement that the previous government made to pay over 3.1 billion euro of Irish tax payers money to what is in effect now a dead bank. We are in discussions with the European Central Bank about that and we are hopeful for an outcome on that issue before the next tranche of that payment is due to be made in March.

DM: Lastly, Mr Gilmore, can I ask you about the sad events in Belfast over recent weeks, does Dublin see that as a return to some of the bad old times, unfinished business after the Good Friday Agreement or is it just a couple of humps that can be overcome and the peace process continues?

EG: Well we are certainly concerned about it and I am in close touch with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, and I will be meeting with her and with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland during the coming week to discuss what has been happening in Belfast and elsewhere during the past number of weeks. We’re concerned about it, I think it has to be said though that the numbers of people who are involved are relatively small, the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland and indeed throughout Ireland, want the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements to succeed. Huge progress has been made in Northern Ireland and we want to see that progress built on. We’ve seen an increase in tourism numbers, an increase in investment, we’ve seen improvements in the economy and this activity, this street violence that has been taking place has got to stop. It is absolutely wrong that police officers are being attacked in the way that they are being attacked, 29 police officers injured in street violence yesterday and last night – that has got to end and I will work closely with Secretary of State Villiers and with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland to do what we can to support the police in Northern Ireland and to support the administration in Northern Ireland to bring about an end to this street violence.

DM: Okay, Mr Gilmore, thank you very much indeed. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland there, Eamon Gilmore.