Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to statements from the three organisations for many years and read their submissions to the joint committee. Essentially, these organisations are all supporters of Government austerity policies. They are endorsing a further savaging in the upcoming budget of public services and cuts of another €2.6 billion. This puzzles me. A colleague organisation of Mr. Noonan's organisation - ISME - is not represented at this meeting. It states it represents small and medium businesses. Apart from the fundamental immorality of working and poor people being forced to carry the cost for gambling bondholders and bankers in the European financial market system and having their jobs, services and communities savaged as a result, the cut in the ability of people to purchase goods and services, which is what austerity means, is hitting the members of the three organisations, especially small businesses. I have never understood, therefdore, how the organisations can hold such a contradictory position. They are supporting more cuts in the forthcoming budget. The one thing they will not tolerate is any increase in taxation.

I do not know if Mr. O'Brien reads the international financial press, but I am sure he does. Last year a number of dramatic articles were published in the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal which reported that affiliates of Mr. O'Brien's and his equivalents in Europe - major European corporations - were sitting on €3 trillion of accumulated profits which they would not invest because they did not deem they would get enough profit in return. What is this all about? Why should these profits not be brought into the public arena and invested in public infrastructure and job creation initiatives, rather than engaging in this anti-social hoarding? These organisations will not tolerate anything more than 12.5% on their wealthiest affiliates - it is much less than 12.5% - and I see a significant problem in this regard. The ladies and gentlemen across the table have no problem in demanding more cuts to the incomes and living standards of workers on €23,000 to €25,000 a year who are completely under water. I ask the delegates to explain that contradiction.

What they are seeking are cuts - potentially - and a shorter time span in respect of some of these benefits. On what planet are our guests living? People who are on social welfare payments and who have been forced into unemployment are operating in the most extremely difficult circumstances, and now our guests want to pile more misery on them. However, they will not tolerate any such extra impositions in respect of the largest corporations and other interests.

What they are doing is blaming the unfortunate victims of the crash for causing it when everyone is aware that it was caused by the disastrous European financial market system, the speculative carry-on of those operating within that system and the behaviour of Irish developers. Unemployment in this country currently stands at more than 400,000, which is up 250,000 to 300,000 on the figure which obtained five years ago. Are our guests of the view that this huge additional complement of people on the live register were attacked by a fit of laziness and that is why they are unemployed? That is completely crazy. Senator Hayden - who comes at this matter from a different ideological perspective than me - made the point that the ability to spend money on the part of people who are the main customers of many small businesses will be cut further under the proposals that have been put forward. What has been suggested to us in this regard is nothing short of a complete contradiction.