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

I supported the revolution that led to the overthrow of the dictatorships in eastern Europe and support the democratic revolutions in the Arab world. It is precisely because of my commitment to democracy that I am worried about the pact for the euro, on which the Minister has not responded. This is not about his view of my ideological position but about whether there is a recognition on his part or on that of the European Union of the key responsibility for a particular economic philosophy that let the banks to run riot and cause the economic crisis. It is not me who is saying this but Mr. Nyberg who said the financial crisis resulted substantially from the naive belief in the efficiency of markets. Why are we signing up to a pact that will lock in and copperfasten the naive belief in the efficiency of markets to the economic perspective of the European Union and which will force us, regardless of what the Government or the people think, to subscribe to that doctrine, particularly given its role in causing the financial crisis?

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