Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I put it to Mr. Brown that in his response to the last question there is an absolute glaring double standard and contradiction. On the one hand Mr. Brown is endorsing a global solution to the Irish economic problem when it comes to imposing austerity. That is okay for the good of the economy. However, it is not okay to have a global solution when it comes to the banks acknowledging their role in getting people into the mortgage crisis they are now in and in getting the whole economy into the mess it is now in. It is a matter of case-by-case and squeeze every cent the bank can get out of the mortgage holder. However, when it comes to what the Government should do, it should have a global solution, no case-by-case approach, no fairness and no justice. It should simply impose austerity because that is what the financial markets want. Does Mr. Brown not see a glaring gross injustice in that?