Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

It is important the Taoiseach is cognisant of and serious about these issues before he attends the European Council. He said he would not go into too much detail, which is unfortunate, given this is a feature of the Government's approach to many issues. Time is running out, however, and there is an expectation among the population that he will return from the meeting with more than the lofty aspirations that are being repeated in various documents. There has been much discussion about sustainable growth, comprehensive packages and so on, but the reality on the ground is different for people. There is no indication of jobs growth and a turnaround in unemployment.

I agree with the Taoiseach that the people of Libya deserve an agreed democratic future but so do the people of Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine and so on. I hope he will highlight to our European counterparts the selective way in which they approach dictators. It is total hypocrisy for them to implement a no-fly zone in Libya only to stand idly by 12 hours later while the army of an ally, Yemen, shoots dead 39 protesters. I hope the Taoiseach brings to the attention of the Council that this action is not being taken to support the revolutionary or democratic movement in Libya but, instead, to take advantage of the situation and to exploit the opportunity to replace the current regime with a more compliant one.

The most serious issue facing the people and the Government is the EU-IMF deal. The people want to know what is going on. Multiple trips have been made to Brussels and it is clear the Government parties fought the election by creating the illusion that there would be a simple, easy renegotiation of the deal which would yield an alteration that would result in a lifting of the crushing burden on the shoulders of ordinary people as a result of the disastrous policies of the previous Government. It is clear now that what we are getting instead is some soft talk about a reduction, primarily in interest rates, which will not wash. The points have been made by my colleague in that regard. A price is being put even on that paltry reduction. It is not a renegotiation. We are being told that if we give up this, we will get that back. It is that type of horse trading, with very few benefits attached.

Where is the burden sharing? Where are the hair cuts and where is the hit being made? People would tremble if they read the Taoiseach's speech in which he lauds the situation that Ireland and Greece are making good progress. That good progress for Greece is a €50 billion rapid privatisation programme being foisted on that economy and the deflationary impact and the job losses that will cause will be devastating for Greece. Is that what the Irish Government expects us to emulate? It is saying we will adhere to the terms of the 3% deficit by the end of 2015. How will it do that? That is what people want to know. It is no longer good enough to say we are where we are or we are where Fianna Fáil and the Green Party put us. We know all that. We now want to know what is being done about it. The question is whether there is a benchmark below which this Government is not prepared to go because we have a European Union acting, in reality, as an agent for the financial markets. Let us be clear about that. They seem to be intervening to shore up the interests of German and French banks who recklessly speculated on our property economy. They were private loans for speculative gain and private profit. How much is the Minister expecting those people to pay for their role in this crisis? What appears to be happening, and we will know soon enough, is that he expects people who are being crushed with the universal social charge, those taking a hit in social welfare and ordinary householders paying excruciating mortgages to continue on in that manner.

What the Government must be clear on going into the negotiations is that an adherence to the policies it has hinted at in the Taoiseach's opening address will not satisfy the concerns of the people who voted for the Government. Many people will be considering what has happened in recent weeks and they will say there is no indication that there is any departure from the policies the previous Government implemented. I remind the Minister of the recent electoral hiding that Government received. While people may be prepared to give this Government a little space to manoeuvre and do the negotiating, they bought the Government's line in good faith and they expect it to come back with something concrete and much more than has been outlined in the documents we have seen so far.

See this speech in context