Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Lads, an bhfuil seans ar bith agam?

While I disagree with the Taoiseach's policy on many issues, I commend the great energy he brought to these challenges. Some progress was made on several issues, such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, but it is fair to state the Presidency was characterised by spin and exaggeration on many occasions, not least in the Taoiseach's remarks today. Indeed, during the final weeks of the Presidency, the negotiations on the European Union budget or multi-annual financial framework were nearly undone by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore's overzealous overselling. The Taoiseach's claim to have secured a deal on the European Union budget was met with the resignation of the negotiator for the European People's Party amid accusations that the Tánaiste was misleading people. While the budget has been cobbled together and will be voted on by the European Parliament this week, many MEPs remain deeply concerned both by the budget itself and by the way in which it was agreed. It represents essentially the continuation of the austerity approach that has contributed to the current crisis and it cannot be welcomed. If it is passed, it will see substantial cuts to important European Union-wide programmes. The immediate impact will be a cut of 6% for 2014, which includes a cut of 25% to research and innovation funding, an 11% cut to the rural development programmes, a 14% cut to health and consumer protection funding, a 9% cut to the Cohesion Fund and a cut of 19% to development aids.

Consequently, while the Irish Presidency of the European Union bears all the hallmarks of austerity, the outcome will be to see more of what everyone has experienced in the recent past. Were further proof needed, the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show the State once again is in recession. The decline in gross domestic product reflects the depression in consumer spending and high unemployment and all this constitutes an indictment of the Government's policy. One significant impact of these policies, which the Taoiseach has marked down as one of the landmark achievements in his remarks today, is the issue of youth unemployment. Only €6 billion has been allocated to tackle youth unemployment, which is a drop in the ocean compared with what is required. In some parts of the European Union, unemployment among young people under 25 is as high as 50%. Nearly one quarter of those aged between 18 and 25 across the Union are out of work and in this State, the figure is one in three. This means that 5.5 million young people are unemployed across the European Union. This morning, the Taoiseach told the European Parliament that tackling the blight of youth unemployment was an absolute priority, but yet 91,664 young people are out of work which is treble the level of four years ago. Moreover, Members are aware that these figures are massaged by the fact that tens of thousands of Irish youngsters are scattered across the globe. All the policies the Taoiseach is pursuing here and in Europe are aggravating and increasing the blight of youth unemployment, not ending it.

Moreover, the chances of a deal on our legacy banking debts faded in recent times. This is the same deal the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, told Members would be concluded by last October and then by this June. This was to be a seismic shift, a game changer and while European Union Finance Ministers have agreed on procedures to deal with future collapses, there is no firm commitment about the nearly €30 billion of Irish taxpayers' money that has gone into the pillar banks. Lest one forgets the €30 billion that was used to pay off the debts of Anglo Irish Bank, that has been kicked down the road but thanks to Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil, our children and perhaps their children will be paying for the greed and reckless behaviour of those greedy bankers for years to come. The fact also remains that nothing has been done to break definitively the link between sovereign and banking debts, as was promised more than a year ago. What is to be the role of the ESM? While a €60 billion fund has been made available to deal with bank recapitalisation, this fund seems far too small for what is required. Did the Taoiseach not tell Members that the ESM would mean retrospective recapitalisation of Ireland's bad banking debts? Is this still the Government's objective? Sinn Féin has repeatedly called for the Government and its Fianna Fáil predecessors to save the taxpayers from the burden of this debt.

That was dismissed as fairy tale economics, yet last week the European Union adopted the position of burning bondholders when the banks fail. It is too late for the people in this State.

In the past week we have also been subjected to a litany of revelations about the banking controversy which bankrupted the State and left citizens here in hock to the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF. We still have not heard a full account from those involved, and we remain vigilant to see what will come out of all that.

I want to refer briefly to the deal on the Common Agricultural Policy, which represents in many ways a missed opportunity because while there was some redistribution of funds from those at the upper end of the scale to those at the bottom, it is much less than it might or ought to have been.

I am very disappointed that the Irish Presidency did not do more to advance the agenda for peace in the Middle East, particularly in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Syria.

I know that on a personal level it has been an extremely busy time for the Taoiseach during the Presidency so fáilte abhaile.

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