Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join in welcoming the three guests and thank them for attending. It is important to have this dialogue with them and it is good that the new schedule of meeting times will facilitate this further.

I wish to pose straightforward questions that I asked the last day. The Chairman helpfully suggested that I might pose the same questions to the delegation today. Will the multi-annual financial framework be passed by the European Parliament? How sizeable is the opposition to the MFF? I believe it will be passed. It is great, I am delighted about it and we need it.

I want Ms Costello to comment on how she thinks the youth guarantee scheme will work in practice. Does she think it will alleviate the unemployment problem? It has been very helpful in Finland. I am optimistic about it but I am interested to hear her opinion. Does she think that we will get a significant part of the €6 billion fund to assist us in the process?

I shall now turn to the remarks made by Mr. Murphy. Does he see his analysis of Europe as being consistent with one getting a youth guarantee scheme and €6 billion devoted to the scheme? The scheme will give young people opportunities. Ireland also got a deal on the promissory notes, which is very realistic in an Irish context and alleviates any immediate cashflow problems. The European Stability Mechanism will also arrange a rebalancing of finances throughout Europe. The entire European project has meant a significant transfer of resources from within Europe to poorer regions and countries. Ireland has benefited from a significant transfer of resources, as eastern European countries are benefiting at present. How does Mr. Murphy reconcile his last thesis suggesting anarchy and disturbances here? I agree with Deputy Durkan's comments on his thesis. How does Mr. Murphy reconcile it with the fact that Greece has suffered greatly from the position that it adopted? Relative to our position, Greece is in a much worse way and the restraint and common sense of the Irish people have kept us in a much better position.

It is easy to use glib terminology like austerity and neo-liberalism and have a student union-type debate on the matter. How does Mr. Murphy think that we can seek a level of forbearance from German taxpayers? They have paid the piper whether we want to accept the fact or not. How much forbearance can we expect from them? The man or woman who works in a factory in Hamburg in Germany can examine his or her payslip to see the deductions that are being made. How long will they tolerate the deductions being made without accountability, evidence of proven spending or some return?

Austerity was not readily an option. Does Mr. Murphy accept that there has been a shift in thinking? Does he concede that there is an acceptance within Europe that austerity on its own has not worked and there is a movement towards stimulus? While as an individual he is properly motivated, with great respect his analysis is simplistic, trifling nonsense and it is dangerous for young people to hear it.