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

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recognises that:— the bank bailout and the EU-IMF loan package arrangement imposes a hugely onerous debt burden on Ireland which will have profound consequences on the Irish economy and Irish society for years to come;— there is widespread and justified outrage felt among very wide layers of Irish society that ordinary citizens, and most particularly those on low and middle incomes and the vulnerable in our society, are being forced to pay for the speculation and gambling of bankers, bondholders and developers by way of swingeing cutbacks and austerity;— a wide body of civic, political and expert opinion, both nationally and internationally, believes that the debt burden arising from the bank bailout, the EU-IMF package, and the conditions attached to the package in the memorandum of understanding, are economically unsustainable or potentially will become so, and will damage rather than enhance our country's prospects for future economic growth;— EU treaties signed by this country, with arguably far less grave or immediate effects for our economy and society than the EU-IMF package, have been put to referendum;— faced with a similar crisis to that in this country, the people of Iceland demanded and won the right to a referendum on a proposed IMF loan package;— recent developments in Portugal confirm that the financial and economic crisis now facing Ireland is very much a Europe-wide problem and that wide layers of society in other European countries are questioning the current EU approach to dealing with the banking and financial crisis;— the Pact for the Euro agreed at the recently held EU Council summit and the strengthening of EU powers for monitoring the economic and fiscal policies of member states, particularly those involved in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the proposed European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM), have potentially profound effects on the ability of EU member states and their citizens to decide their own economic policies; and— there is an overwhelming democratic case for putting the continued bank bail-out and an agreement with such profound implications for the economic and social future of our country to a referendum of the people; and resolves to call a national referendum providing the Irish people the opportunity to accept or reject the bank bailout and the EU-IMF loan package arrangement.

I appeal to the one member of the Government who has turned up for this debate-----

See this speech in context