Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Vice President a good afternoon. She is quoted in the Irish media this week as saying Irish people should place their trust in political leaders trying to build a stronger Europe. Why should people place their trust in a system that has in many cases overseen a collapse in their incomes and is now actively dismantling the social infrastructure that holds the more positive elements of society together in the name of the god of austerity?

Ms Reding outlined that never again will a nation's people, as in the case of this country, pay the price for their banks' mistakes. That is reassuring for many but it is not for those who have to pay for those mistakes. Is the Commissioner saying that in future the private debt of wealthy individuals, gamblers and speculators will not become the sovereign debt of a country? That is the message people want to hear. I do not know anyone who caused this debt or contributed to it. It was an elite in society that seemed to contribute to it and an elite in Europe seem to come up with the answers to it. It is not reassuring for those who have children with special needs that cannot get support, for those who are waiting for an operation or a hospital bed, or for those in society whose children go to bed hungry. I would like to hear the Commissioner say that it will never happen again.

In Spain youth unemployment is at 50%. In this country youth unemployment is at 30% but that is because young people in this country are going to Australia, Canada and other parts of the English speaking world to try to get jobs. In the constituency I represent many of the young people cannot go to those countries because they cannot gain access to them as they do not have the required educational qualifications.

I wish to see a free federation of free people in Europe but I want to see answers coming from Europe. In Ms Reding's interview with The Irish Times she said that everyone recognised the problem of bank debt relief and that it remained unsolved. Similar to other senior politicians she said that this country was an exemplar for other stricken countries, that it was going in the right direction. We have a problem with the direction in which we are going. Other federations around the world and in Switzerland and the United States have a different opinion on issues such as safety nets for people who have not done well in society and many of the things we hold dear in Europe. I am concerned about the future of Europe. It is healthy for citizens to question the direction in which Europe is going.