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

The problem with the programme for Government is captured in two statements made by the Taoiseach which show the inconsistency at the heart of the programme. He stated correctly that "the State's credit worthiness has been lost as a result of the decision to bail out the creditors of private institutions," which was an act of the last Government. He went on to say the Government "recommits Ireland to solving the fiscal crisis and honouring our sovereign debts." The problem is that our unsustainable debt burden results precisely from the decision to guarantee the gambling debts of private financial institutions. The Taoiseach recognises that the decision in question was a disastrous mistake. Why does he intend to retain a policy that will sink the economy and undermine the admirable aspirations in the programme for Government with regard to fairness, job creation and the delivery of better public services? More cuts and job losses are guaranteed as long as we continue the bailout of these institutions and their gambling debts.

The programme for Government specifies that 25,000 jobs will be lost in the public sector, more stealth charges will be introduced and more cuts will be made in public services. Most disgracefully, it pledges that State assets will be sold. God knows what assets we are talking about. The idea that State companies, or the physical land of parts of the country, could be sold to pay the bad gambling debts of private institutions is outrageous. Any Government which talks about "a democratic revolution" - the Minister for Finance has said this situation may be "unsustainable" - should give the people a chance to vote on this package, at the very least, just as Iceland did. A referendum on whether we want to proceed with it is necessary because of the cruel implications it will have for ordinary people in the coming years. It looks like it is completely unsustainable; it is certainly unjust.

When we say we should default or burn the bondholders, people always ask us what we would do then. We are asked what the alternative is, or where we would get the money needed. At the weekend the Sunday Independent gave us a little hint of where we could get the money. It reported that €57 billion was in the hands of just 300 people. The people in question are €6.7 billion wealthier than they were last year. That figure is more than the amount saved through all the budget cuts imposed on the poor and working people through social welfare cuts, etc. Why does the Government not impose higher taxes on those wealthy people instead of continuing the attacks on working people, the poor, the unemployed and the vulnerable in our society? That is the direction a decent programme for Government would take.

See this speech in context