Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I intend to share time with Deputy Dessie Ellis. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Donohoe. I understand this is his first outing. Tá fáilte roimhe. It has been my experience that his predecessor was very forthright and clear in her pronouncements in the House and I hope the Minister of State will follow that example. I thank the Taoiseach for his remarks as well.

As the Taoiseach pointed out, the agenda of the European Council meeting is intended to focus on competitiveness, the digital economy, innovation and services. None the less, the revelation by the Government of the United States of spying on the governments of EU member states through its National Security Agency programme will undoubtedly be raised. The Taoiseach never mentioned this and therefore we do not know the Government's view. Does the Taoiseach share the French Government's concern at these revelations? If it is raised, which it almost certainly will be, what will the Taoiseach say on behalf of the people?

There is also a significant dispute surrounding the EU budget and the urgent request from the President of the European Commission for a €2.7 billion supplementary budget. Mr. Barroso has warned that without a deal on the matter the Commission will no longer be in a position to meet its financial obligations by mid-November. He is looking for the governments to vote this through quickly and there are concerns despite indications this morning that the EU Presidency has brokered some sort of deal. Concerns remain surrounding future EU spending. MEPs are angry as well and are venting their anger because their request for a €3.9 billion budget supplement has not yet been approved. As a result of all this, the vote on the EU budget for 2014 to 2020 has been postponed. Consequently, this Council meeting takes on even more significance. I note the Taoiseach did not mention any of these matters in any detail in his remarks.

The postponement of the multi-annual financial framework budget vote also means the postponement of the debate on a series of legislative packages that were dependent on MFF funding and which cannot operate without it. We understand a special meeting of ministers with responsibility for EU affairs is scheduled for 30 October. Where does all of this sit with the Government's boast in June that it had secured the EU budget, that the MFF was all wrapped up and that it was a done deal? There is no evidence of that. On the contrary, we have a high stakes battle between the Council and the Parliament and the question is who will give way first.

The most important question is what the Government will propose because this is not the fair at Glin, this is the Dáil, and we are entitled to know the Government's position and its proposals to solve the crisis. What will the Government bring to the EU affairs ministers meeting at the end of the month? Does the Taoiseach accept that the proposed MFF is an austerity laden budget that will attempt to lock the EU into austerity policies for the next seven years? Those of us who live in the real world know that what is needed is more investment in the struggling economies of member states to get growth, quality job creation and citizens, especially young citizens, into work. What is needed is an end to waste, especially in the over-inflated administration budget and a stop to the ludicrous and expensive moving between Brussels and Strasbourg.

The Taoiseach tells us we are almost at the end of the bailout programme. A total of €67 billion was borrowed from the troika, €65 billion of which was put into the banks. For six years ordinary and hard-working taxpayers were told that taxes needed to rise and public services and wages had to be cut to pay for the bailout. We were told the bailout was needed to pay for the wages of our hard-working public servants and front-line workers. Yet it is these same low and middle income civil servants who are being hardest hit by the Government's crippling austerity policies.

The people want to see us leave the bailout, but what does that mean? What effect will it have on average Irish citizens? We continue to get spin. The Government is spinning the yarn that the brutal austerity it decided to implement as a policy decision was all because the troika forced the Government to impose it, but that is not the case. The Government had choices and it decided to opt for austerity. That was a policy choice the Government made. The troika, the big boys, did not make the Government do it. It did not make the Government go beyond next year's targets with more austerity and it has never told the Government where the axe should fall.

It did not ask or tell the Government to go a further €480 million beyond its target, with more cuts and taxes, in budget 2014.

There must be clarity from the Government on many of these issues because otherwise, the debate simply becomes a bland exchange of assertions from one side to the other. To make matters worse, the stance taken by the Government in respect of its negotiating position and policy at European level ensured there was no debt write-off, no commitment on the bank debt and no easing up on austerity. Members need to know what changes this exit will bring. Will there be a lifting of the constraints on our sovereignty? What is our sovereignty? Members should consider the reality of how much control we have over our own affairs. It is known that future Government decisions on the economy will go under German and European Union surveillance for a long time but with no quid pro quo. Moreover, next year's budget, like the one for this year, will be passed in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin before the Government eventually introduces it in this Chamber. In addition, the Government will not allow debates in this Chamber of the requisite length and depth. While there have been many congratulations - fair play to the Government, which has been congratulating itself - the facts speak for themselves. In 2008, the deficit was just over 7% and in 2013, the deficit remains just over 7%. In the interim, the Government has taken €28 billion out of the economy, crucified Irish families and decimated public services, while all the time protecting the banks. This is hardly a cause for celebration.

At the beginning of this month, the Special EU Programmes Body announced it was withdrawing its offer of £18 million in financial support to construct a peace and reconciliation centre on the site of the former Long Kesh prison camp. This money was withdrawn on foot of the reneging by the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, on a programme for Government commitment to construct the centre. The DUP has broken a programme for Government commitment, has snubbed more than €21 million of hard-won EU funding and has jeopardised an opportunity to build a centre which would have been a catalyst for other investment that could have created up to 5,000 jobs. The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, has publically stated his commitment and determination to retrieve this project and have the funding reinstated. Will the Government also do all it can at a bilateral and EU level to ensure this funding is reinstated? The idea of a peace centre that can examine the legacy of conflict and learn the lessons therefrom is vitally important. The Taoiseach could learn lessons from it. In response to my questions to him this morning, he made a totally inappropriate remark about a dreadful incident that happened in my constituency of West Belfast on this day 20 years ago. If such matters are to be discussed, it should be done in a mature, reflective way that learns the lessons and not to make cheap political points.

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