Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

No Fianna Fáil. Absolutely. Notable by their absence are those who promised change in Irish politics and Dáil reform, so we have a long way to go.

I am grateful to the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the urgent need for a referendum on the EU-IMF loan package scheme. Before going into the details, I should highlight the amount of stress that some politicians, senior bankers and developers have caused our people. They have tortured our citizens and now we are all suffering the consequences. They have left the poor, the unemployed and others with major economic and social problems, and now we all have to try to clean up the mess. It was a scandal, a shame and a crime against the people for which those responsible should be jailed. There should be no fence-sitting on this issue: those people should be charged, prosecuted and jailed.

Our country is being dictated to and controlled by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, not in our interests but in the service of global finance houses. Our children and future generations have become virtual indentured labour for as long as it takes to pay off the debts of a speculative clique or golden circle that has controlled our country. They will sell off more and more of our public companies and assets, including our natural resources, in their efforts to pay back money owed to these bankers.

As people will appreciate, the crisis is not about sovereign debt but has resulted from the socialisation of the private debt of financial institutions and developers. That is the truth. Despite it not having been the people's fault, the State - supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund - is imposing a continuing transfer of billions of euro in national wealth from the people to domestic and international banks in regressive tax increases, cuts to services, pay cuts, redundancies, an assault on workers' pension entitlements and the National Pension Fund, and through the disposal of national assets. Far from being sovereign debt, this is the illegitimate and odious debt of a handful of private financial institutions and developers and a corrupt political establishment that was taken on by the State against the people's wishes. On this most critical issue, the people have not been consulted, which is why I demand a referendum. Instead, we have suffered a circus of political commentators and so-called experts presented to us by State and private media. We should face up to the fact that there is not an informed debate going on. Look who controls many of our national newspapers.

I commend my colleagues in the technical group for having tabled this motion. The details show that the bank bailout and the EU-IMF loan package arrangements impose an onerous debt burden on Ireland which will have profound consequences on the economy and society for years to come. There is widespread and justified outrage across a wide spectrum of Irish society. There is an overwhelming democratic case for putting the continuing bank bailout and EU-IMF agreement to a referendum, given the profound implications for the economic and social future of our country.

The motion "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". That is what this debate is about. The technical group is putting it up to the Government and to Fianna Fáil on these issues.

We have not yet heard about bank staff, many of whom will probably get the boot from their jobs in the next six months. Low-paid staff in various banks will be affected and there is major concern among them. I fully support the Unite trade union's campaign to defend jobs and services in the banking sector. We must also consider what some bankers have done to small businesses. More than 200,000 jobs in local communities around the State are now being hammered and we may expect 20,000 or 30,000 people to lose their jobs as a result.

Last week, we saw how the Government - shame on the Labour Party - still supports the universal social charge, which is an unjust and regressive tax. It is important to highlight these issues. The Irish people should have the right to decide this issue. I reject those who say that as we have had an election and the current Government has a mandate on this issue. It does not. It got a mandate to do the opposite. It is time for Members of this House to stand up for democracy and for the people, including the unemployed and weaker sections of society. It is not fair that they should have to suffer the consequences.

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