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

Given the short amount of time available, I will try to fire my questions out as quickly as possible. On the larger European picture, why is the Brussels group - the newly named troika - of which the European Commission is a member, bullying Greece to the point that it might be driven out of the European Union? Although nobody really knows what might be the outcome of the latter, it could possibly trigger the beginning of the end of the euro project. Why has Greece been placed in an unprecedented situation whereby it is being obliged to take the cash reserves of local councils and other state bodies in order to pay interest on debt? The Commissioner can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this to be an absolutely unique and unprecedented demand on a country. As understand it - and, again, I stand open to correction - this is being done in order to shove more austerity, in the form of pension cuts and so-called labour market reforms, down the throats of the Greek people, who have already endured so much and who are in the midst of a devastating humanitarian crisis.

Could the Commissioner explain the stance he is taking, which I consider bizarre and cruel?

That leads to my next question on the issue of debt. The Commissioner referred to the problems of public debt in this country and he is, more generally, concerned with high debt levels across Europe. We are finding out through the banking inquiry at least one story of the previous Government being told by the ECB to "save the banks at all costs". A gun was put to its head. Mr. Moscovici says he is concerned about debt, yet the policy seems to be to force people to take on these massive debt burdens at a devastating cost. Could he explain that contradiction?