Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

We need to recognise that, in this instance at least, the EU is not a good Samaritan coming to the help of a neighbour in trouble. German, French and British banks gambled recklessly and lost but they are now demanding an each way bet. They want the Irish taxpayer to pay for the losses they incurred. That has been the policy of the previous Government and, sadly, it is now being pursued by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. European banks bear a lot of responsibility for what has happened to the Irish economy.

We are now faced with a genuine national economic and social emergency accompanied by an unprecedented assault on the living standards of Irish people and low and middle income earning families in particular. Meanwhile, billions of euro are being taken from working people and given to bankers, developers, international speculators and finance houses. This Government and its predecessor are trying to solve the economic crisis by slashing public expenditure and cutting welfare payments and the pay and pensions of workers. There can be no just or sustainable solution on this basis. I favour democratic and public control of our own resources so that social need is prioritised over profit.

It was established yesterday that we are in even worse trouble than we previously believed. Growth rate projections have been halved to 0.5% and we appear to be €1.3 billion worse off today than we were yesterday morning. Is it not time to default? This situation is unsustainable. We face payments of €4.9 billion this year, rising to €9 billion or more in 2014. That burden will crush Irish families and devastate the economy. One way or another, there will be a default. We need to negotiate a structured default because if we default unilaterally, the resulting situation will be absolutely dire. It is unsustainable to force Irish taxpayers to pay for banks which gambled recklessly and lost. We will see a continued onslaught on ordinary Irish people in coming budgets and people on low incomes or social welfare payments of €188 per week will be forced to live on even less. It is time to default and the Government should stand up to the EU to stop the pressure on Irish taxpayers to pay huge sums of money to foreign banks.

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