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

The Taoiseach has made political claims about his Administration and what he has spent his money on. It is our entitlement to respond.

In his statement and long briefing document, all produced with taxpayers' funds, the exit from the bailout and the deal on the promissory notes is extolled at length but may I put it to him that the downside should have been included also. The Taoiseach deals at length with the saving from the promissory note but neglects to say that the debts are put over 40 years and the children of children yet unborn will carry them. There should be some reference to the serious implications for people of the legacy of debt of 125% of gross domestic product now and interest payments of €9 billion a year. The Taoiseach gives us the rosy spin, and he has had the EU establishment spinning for him for the past two to three weeks because it was important for them that the bailout of their financial system on the backs of our people would be portrayed as something good. I am asking the Taoiseach to comment on the sustainability of what has been put forward in his opening statement.

I wish to raise also the issue of funding of trade missions undertaken by the Taoiseach. Will he comment also on his failure during his trade trips to make a reference to the human rights of the oppressed people of China who are routinely brutalised or those whose hands and legs are chopped off in countries such as Saudi Arabia and so on? I believe the Irish taxpayers would want the Taoiseach, when he is using their money to go to these countries, to have a strong position on that.

What funding will the Taoiseach allocate to mark the commemoration of the First World War, 1914-18? Will he take into account the First World War was a bestial and criminal enterprise by governments and the successors of those governments with whose representatives he rubs shoulders at commemorations but does not comment on the reasons that millions of working people slaughtered each other for the sake of their markets and colonies. Will the Taoiseach speak out on the criminal enterprise that it was or would that embarrass the Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron and the others?

The Taoiseach states he will remember the soldiers, the soldiers who in the main were the poor and working class youths from all sides who were slaughtered and brutalised. They should be remembered, but they were victims. I would like the Taoiseach to comment on that.

There is an allocation for the Moriarty tribunal of €146 million for 2014. Is that the totality of all and any costs outstanding in relation to this tribunal? Will the Taoiseach give a breakdown of where the money is due to go?

The briefing document deals at length with the fair and social inclusive policies of the Taoiseach. May I put it to him that several agencies, including the ESRI, disagree with that statement? The ESRI states the impact of the Government's economic policies and austerity measures bears hardest on those with lower income and on the poor whereas the very wealthy and corporate sector and so on are not affected in the same way. Will he defend this when it is palpably not the case?