Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil an deis seo againn labhairt arís ar na cruinnithe mullaigh seo a bhíonn ann trí nó ceithre uaire sa bhliain ag Comhairle an Aontais Eorpaigh.

Like other Deputies I consider it strange that, given the supposedly key role the European Union has in the quartet, there does not appear to have been any discussion of Israel's heightening of tensions in the Middle East with its murderous attack on the aid flotilla, which carried many EU citizens on board. Perhaps the Minister will elaborate on whether it was discussed on the margins of the Council meeting. What was discussed, given the preferential position Israel has in Europe through the preferential trade agreement, the growth in the boycott, divestment and sanctions, BDS, lobby in other EU states and particularly in Ireland and the position some European countries have taken recently? I find it strange it did not put itself on the agenda.

I also wanted to find out whether the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who is supposedly the peace envoy for the Middle East, was speaking on behalf of the EU when he hailed Israel's move, yesterday or the day before, to reduce the blockade as a significant milestone. The list of controlled items has been reduced, not that anybody ever saw the full list of what was controlled as they just knew what was allowed in, which was minimal. All this ignores the fact that the siege of the Palestinian territory of Gaza is nearly three years old and there had previously been intermittent blockades of that part of Palestine by Israel.

I welcome the easing of the blockade for humanitarian reasons. However, this does not take away from the fact that the siege-blockade is illegal. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, has said as much in this House. I ask what is the EU stance in this regard. If the blockade is illegal, we should not be celebrating its removal or calling this action a significant milestone.

The blockade needs to be lifted completely. It is an air, sea and road blockade which is contrary to international law and the only sustainable solution is the complete and immediate lifting of the closure. The root cause of the continuation of that siege is the immunity which Israel enjoys. The international community and the EU in particular, seems to have granted Israel further privileges based on the fact it is violating human rights. This amounts to collective punishment. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, has used those terms. If this is the case, I find it difficult to understand how it was not discussed as a main topic at the Council meeting, given the murderous attack on the flotilla and considering Irish and other EU citizens were on board ships. Neither should we celebrate the partial lifting of this blockade.

The permitting of secondary goods into Gaza without allowing the local economy to produce its own goods will only increase the dependency that currently exists on imported goods and aid from abroad. This exacerbates the crisis of self-determination and dignity among Palestinians in the long term. I hope there will be time to return to this point.

I refer to the Taoiseach's contribution when he said, "it is important at this point to stress that greater budgetary discipline across the Union is in all our interests. Some have sought to suggest this implies a loss of sovereignty. I do not accept this". I disagree fundamentally with the Taoiseach's statement. I believe that interference from the European Union in Irish budgetary affairs is a loss of sovereignty; it is not a sharing of responsibility. It is also an insult, not only to the Minister for Finance, this House and the Oireachtas but also to the Irish people. There should be no suggestion that we as a people are not capable of taking realistic, responsible financial decisions, in the interests of the public, that we have to be baby-sat - which may be the wrong word - dictated to about each and every financial measure we need to take to extract ourselves from a mess not of our making but of this Government's, the national and international banking sectors and also as a result of predatory practices.

I have disagreed with this policy for a considerable period of time. Europe's forced adherence to the stability and growth pact is hampering our economy's ability to recover. The Stability and Growth Pact forces countries to stay within a 3% budget deficit and this was arbitrarily ignored by the larger countries during Ireland's boom years in particular. We were held up as a shining example to other countries because of our ability to meet the strict criteria during those times. It now seems that all of that ability was based on false money. Our budget deficit has now soared to 12.8% of GDP and that 12.8% ignores the borrowings being undertaken for the banks because that is off the Government's central balance sheet, courtesy of the special purpose vehicle signed off by Europe. Here is another fraud being committed because the figure of 12.8% is not a real figure, which is much higher. There has been a complete under-estimation because we are evading the negative consequences of all that borrowing in order to bail out the banks.

The Government has promised Europe it will bring the deficit back to within the 3% dictated by the Stability and Growth Pact by 2013. Is this with or without the special purpose vehicle's funding requirements? The 2013 deadline is not only ridiculous with regard to what it means in spending cuts and tax increases, it is also completely random. Why is 2013 the deadline year? Why not 2014 or 2020? Why not associate it with the 2020 strategy? Various economic commentators have posed this question of why should we place ourselves under such enormous pressure to meet the Stability and Growth Pact which makes no sense to begin with. The Government could have gone to Europe with a seven-year or ten-year recovery plan. The indecent haste to meet a fantastical rule set by people who at times ignored the rule themselves makes no sense.

This Government has also tied the State to the EU's blind determination to protect the euro which means participating in the bail-out of Greece when our deficit exceeds that of Greece. In a few months' time we could have the potential situation where Greece is asked to bail out the Irish economy. This shows the ludicrous nature of what is being discussed and imposed upon us. It means partaking of a new loan facility fund, despite the demands that fund can put on a state if it avails of those finances. The EU is becoming the IMF and this Government is signing up wholeheartedly to it, up to the point of agreeing that Brussels should have sight of and commentary on our sovereign budgets in advance of them being put to the national Parliament. This is an insult to this House and an insult to the budgetary process which has gone through the Oireachtas quite well for a number of years. The Government is signing up to an interference from outside in our affairs. That amounts to a loss of sovereignty.

The EU hampers our recovery in other ways. A colleague, Senator Pearse Doherty, was recently lobbied by firms in Donegal that lost out on tenders to firms from the Six Counties and England because those jurisdictions do not have to honour the existing Registered Employment Agreements, REAs - the pay and conditions of those in the construction and hotel industry - that apply to certain work in this State. This is perfectly legal because of the Laval and Viking decisions. Any company can now tender for an Irish project and pay its workers the rates of its home country, which will often be less than hard-fought rates in this State. More jobs are being lost in the State. How does this fit in with Europe's strategy for jobs and the Europe 2020 strategy hailed as the best thing since sliced bread? The strategy is aimed at lifting 20 million people out of poverty while workers in Donegal are being put into poverty and unemployment. This Government has nailed our fortunes to those of the EU through the taking of referendums for a second time. The Government can now use the EU as an excuse and claim it has no ability to make decisions in the interests of the citizens of the State and that it is in the hands of the EU. That is a loss of sovereignty to which we referred over a number of treaties. These are a threat to our ability to make decisions in this Parliament in the interests of the Irish people.

For a short period, there was at least some good economic work under way in Europe. For a period after the banking crisis hit and caused many countries to slump into recession, several European countries led the way with stimulus packages aimed at lifting their economies out of contraction. Unfortunately, those on the right have once again deflected the rightly-placed blame on them for this mess and are leading a turnaround in policy decisions. They are holding Ireland up as a shining example of how to cut essential services, privatise, clamp down on workers' rights and allow the rich to carry on unscathed. It is an example of right-wing economics and of how to contract an economy into depression and apply the same policies that caused the crisis. Europe must be proud of us. We are repeating the mistakes of the past. That is how foolish this Government is and it is being led blindly by right-wing economists across Europe. This Government has always succeeded in taking the worst from Europe without any of the best. While we must adhere to the nonsense Stability and Growth Pact, we must have the worst health care system, the worst funded education system and the worst child care system. These services, so essential to building the State and competitiveness, are delivered with equality in most other European countries. It would serve us well if this Government was to look at Europe beyond its ideological slant and take a leaf out of other countries' books in that regard. It might find that if it puts its citizens and building competitiveness first, like other countries that frequently broke the Stability and Growth Pact, we too might have to adjust our goal of being within it.

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