Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

-----for that strategy. Madame Lagarde is representative of the centre right in France and is a member of President Sarkozy's Government. I would not be looking to France in search of a degree of comfort or solace with regard to this country's current economic position. We are, however, very fortunate that we are part of the European Union and that we have access to the European Central Bank, ECB. I suspect the latter shored up our position in respect of the bond issue in recent weeks. I would be anxious to discover the degree to which the ECB intervened in this regard.

There is no doubt that this is a black day. However, I am moved to state that I am of a generation that benefited from the fact that, socially, politically and economically, Ireland looked outwards during the 1980s and 1990s. We drew economic strength from the pooling of sovereignty that occurred with our European neighbours at that time. As a result of this, people of my generation benefited by being able to travel, obtain an education and gain proper employment. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, we thought we could go it alone. We became extremely greedy and selfish and began to look inwards again. In order to claw our way out of the morass in which we find ourselves, we will be obliged to look outwards once again. We must work with our European neighbours in order to find solutions to the economic problems that exist.

I sat the leaving certificate in 1991. I am of the generation which benefited from the abolition of university fees. Many of the other members of my generation who also benefited in this way travelled the world for a number of years and returned to Ireland when the economic climate appeared brighter. These people, some of whom are friends of mine, got married, had children and bought houses for astronomical prices. It is our generation that will be obliged to pay for the profligacy and disastrous economic policies preferred by the so-called republican party.

If it is given the opportunity to govern, the Labour Party, and people of my generation, will get us out of the morass to which I refer. In the past it was the Labour Party which made the ultimate sacrifice. During previous periods of severe economic difficulty, it was my party which took the tough decisions that were necessary to place the country back on an even keel. The country has been holed below the water line but we are not beaten yet. I refuse to be beaten. I am of that generation of politicians whose members will be obliged to look not two or three but rather 20 years hence in order to identify how we want our society to develop. We will be obliged to set down a formula to achieve our goals in this regard.

The figures that emerged earlier today mean the next Government, of which I am sure Labour will be a part, will be at a disadvantage in the context of being able to repair the damage that has been done. That is a message which must be put across. We will not give up on the Irish people. Although there is an air of despair and depression in this Parliament today, I can inform the Minister of State that we will fight with every fibre of our beings in order to try to claw our way out of our current difficulties. The Irish people will do so because they are resourceful.

Deputy Quinn referred to the time he spent as Minister for Finance. When it is once again in government, the Labour Party will work to claw the country out of the mess in which it currently finds itself. We may, as in the past, pay the ultimate price by losing the general election which follows. However, we will do what is necessary because we are patriots. We will not do what is required for personal gain, we will do it because we believe in this country and its people.

It will take a great deal of time to do what needs to be done. A message must be sent to the people that it will be the Labour Party that will rectify the problems caused by the policies that were followed during the past 13 years. It will not be easy and the people know that. What citizens want is some honesty. If the Labour Party is honest and states that the next five years are going to be tough but that there will be a point below which no citizen will be permitted to fall, I am of the view that the people will give us the chance to do what is required. That is all we are seeking.

I wish to refer to an article by Colm Keena in The Irish Times on 21 September. Mr. Keena reported that:

The Governor of the Central Bank has indicated he believes the December budget should involve a package of cuts in excess of €3 billion so Ireland can keep reducing its deficit on track.

Prof Patrick Honohan said yesterday the Government's multi-year plan for reducing the deficit needed "explicit reprogramming" and this was "clearly necessary soon". He did not want to go into detail for any given year, but there was an overall need for reprogramming...

If the economy stayed on track with what had been initially envisaged, the deficit would come close to 3 per cent by 2014. "But as the IMF and others have noted, the real economy, the price level and interest rates on Government borrowing have evolved in a less favourable way. Servicing of the additional debt related to bank restructuring is also a negative factor."

With the passage of time, one comes to learn what is meant when language is used in a certain way. The term "explicit programming" is code for stating that a deficit target of 3% by 2014 is just not tenable. That is particularly true in light of the figures produced today. Where does this leave us?

Deputy Coveney brought some degree of realism to the debate by outlining an agreed approach in terms of how we might proceed. I am sure the Deputy's thoughts in this regard are based on his experiences as an MEP. In Europe, programmes are multi-annual in nature and there is a political consensus in respect of them. We need to ensure that our European partners will allow for the fact that the banking crisis has cost us so much that any servicing of a deficit or any stimulus package will be a major challenge and that we need some degree of stability and political consensus as to how that might be reached. An election tomorrow morning would clear the air and allow for an alternative government to be able to tell the people that we are starting on a new footing. We could also say to our partners in the European Union and the European Commission that there is a new impetus as to how we can get ourselves out of the mess in which we find ourselves, but that it might take longer than the period envisaged in the target to reduce the deficit to less than the 3% by 2014.

Ireland is a test bed and there is no paradigm for where we are at the moment. Nobody in Europe can judge how this will pan out. It would be fundamentally dishonest for me as a representative of the people of Cork East to say that I know exactly what the answers are because I do not. I am trying to grapple with these figures and it is impossible. It would be wrong of me to claim there is a model for where Ireland is now, which is why we need to work outwardly and why our membership of the European Union will ultimately be our saviour. Many of my fellow citizens would claim that some of the blame for this should be laid at the door of Europe. When people speak of Europe they do so as a concept that is somehow out there, but we are Europe. While we may be on the periphery geographically, we are part of that decision-making process and we may need more help from our European neighbours to ensure that we can rebuild from the ashes of a republic that is in a terrible state at the moment.

I believe in this republic and that we can find a way out of this. We must not be afraid to take tough decisions to ensure our citizens have some hope for the future. We should not give up or give in to a body such as the IMF. Our sovereignty must mean something more than just an economic value. We need to recreate the value systems or go back to previous value systems we had in this country and work in partnership with our European Union neighbours to look outwardly for some solution to the problems in which we find ourselves. Now that the banking system has been brought into temporary public ownership it needs to go through a major overhaul. The culture that exists, which has not changed since September 2008, must be revisited. If the guarantee that was provided in 2008 has not changed the banking culture and people in the real economy are still suffering owing to lack of credit, then given that we have taken these banks into temporary public ownership we should do whatever we deem necessary on behalf of the people to ensure those banks are functioning as they should and we should make no apology for that. We have been too deferential to the banking moguls here.

I have searched the Statute Book to ascertain whether it would be possible to bring these guys out in handcuffs and do the perp walk as famously mentioned by the Minister, Deputy Gormley. I know a change in the Constitution and a change in law would be required to effect that. How many of them have been arrested and brought before the courts for threatening the very sovereignty of the State? The silver-haired foxes in the Department of Finance and those on the Fianna Fáil side of the House have left the people of my generation and the people of the generation to come after me with an albatross of debt around their necks. Fianna Fáil politicians have the temerity to come out and attack the Labour Party. What is patriotism? They are not patriots and never were. They are self-interested and always were.

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