Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The motion tries to blame the euro for what was a crisis in the country that we brought upon ourselves. The motion refers to draconian fiscal rules but every household must learn to within live within its means. That is essentially what we are talking about in much of the crisis talk.

If one reads any of the debates in this House, in the committees and in the public media, one can see that everybody accepts that the first thing we had to do was stabilise our economy and ensure our public spending was controlled. One can spend one's way into bankruptcy and there was no point in this country doing that. Many of the issues the Members refer to in the context of austerity have become part not just of the national discussion here but also the European discussion.

The Members opposite are like the British Tories in some respects in that they are falling into the old habit of blaming Europe for all of their problems. However, many of the issues that must be resolved in this country are home-grown problems. We must dealt with them first. In fact, Europe is becoming increasingly democratic in many respects. Europe has saved us from our worst excesses. Without having had the opportunity of the bailout programme and the changes that are taking place, which we strongly support, we would be in a worse crisis.

This motion is ill-thought out and many of the charges made by its supporters are wrong. In fact, many of the actions they say we should take are the same as those proposed by President Barroso, the person of whom they are so critical.

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