Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Does the Taoiseach have any inkling that what he agreed last night, namely, permanent austerity and cutbacks, will have a drastic effect on employment and bring about the opposite of job creation? For the first time in a long while, I noticed cynical propaganda emerging from the European Union to the effect that the economic crisis is about to be turned around and there has been some talk of stimulus and so forth. Will what was agreed not further depress the economies of Europe, causing further suffering for ordinary people across the Continent? Is the Taoiseach aware that it has been notified today that unemployment in the European Union is at its highest for 14 years, with 16.5 million people unemployed? Young people all over Europe are being cruelly denied a job and in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland the effects of austerity are disastrous. How can the Taoiseach discuss job creation in the same breath as he defends an austerity treaty? Will he explain his comments in Davos, which he has failed to do, when he carefully blamed the Irish people in total for the greed of a tiny minority?

It was not me who underestimated the intelligence of Irish people but the Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, who stated they could not distinguish between a treaty and other, albeit important issues which are on their minds. Who is calling Irish people stupid? Does the Taoiseach agree with the Minister that a referendum is not an exercise in democracy?

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