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

Well, Mr. Trichet, you didn't address if it's moral just and right that the private debts of bankers, because of their reckless activity, should be put onto our people and seven years of massive austerity.

And my last question to you, Mr. Trichet ... you spoke of a consensus in late 2010 that essentially burning bondholders was too risky. Can I ask you, Mr Trichet, who was the consensus with because I would suggest to you that perhaps hundreds of millions of European citizens would agree that the big financial institutions should take a hit, not ordinary working people? And you spoke about democratic accountability and legitimacy in your address. Can I ask you how is it democratic that faceless, unelected financial speculators in the so-called financial markets can dictate to elected governments, can dictate to the ECB that they should not be burned out ... that they should be compensated for their gambling and that the majority should suffer? How is that democratic in the European Union?