Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

There has been an air of utter unreality about the contributions of the establishment parties and the Commissioner. They should have begun with a frank acknowledgement that this Government and its predecessors have reduced themselves to being merely cat's paws for the diktats of the European Commission and the ECB, which are dictating, in turn, the demands of the European financial markets. Rather than repeating clichés about putting Ireland back in the heart of the European Union, it would be more beneficial in our debate to dissect the nature of that heart to reveal its hard-as-flint composition, its right-wing, neoliberal economic policy and the determination of its leadership to protect the economic and financial elites of Europe at the expense of workers and the poor.

Let us explore the fiction claimed here today that the ECB is independent in the exercise of its powers. In the aftermath of the Irish property crash, the ECB blatantly represents the interests not of the people of Europe but of the major European banks, vampire hedge funds and assorted speculators, dictating that their massive private gambling debts be piled on the shoulders of the Irish people, despite the fact that this is utterly immoral and unjust and will lower the living standards of our people, destroy tens of thousands of jobs, depress the economy generally and leave this State hovering over a black hole of bankruptcy. It mocks the claims of the Treaty on European Union that it is based on the values of solidarity and equality. In its present structures, the EU represents not the liberation of working people in Europe, whether in Ireland, Portugal, Greece or elsewhere, but their enslavement to the parasites of the financial markets.

We on the left want a Europe of genuine solidarity among working people, pensioners and the poor; a Europe where the financial institutions and major levers of wealth are in public ownership under democratic control and accountability and are used as tools for regenerating the economy; a Europe where public services and pensions are assured and a dignified life made possible for all.

De réir conradh an Aontais Eorpaigh, tá an t-Aontas bunaithe ar luachanna áirithe, ina measc comhionnanas agus dlúthpháirtíocht, ach sa saol mar atá is fimíneacht amach is amach atá sa mhaíomh seo. Cá bhfuil an dlúthpháirtíocht nuair atá maoinlathas an Aontais Eorpaigh, an Coimisiúin agus an Banc Lárnach ag seasamh le bainc móra na Gearmáine, na Fraince, na Spáinne agus áiteanna eile ag cur coise ar bholg gnáth mhuintir na tíre seo ag éileamh go n-íocfaidís droch fiacha na bainc úd, a d'éirigh as na geallta millteacha, móra, mísheolta a rinneadar i gcúrsaí talúin agus tógála na tíre ar thóir proifide príomháideach, i gcomhluadar ar ndóigh le baincéirí agus tógálaithe Éireannacha? Tá institiúidí an Aontais Eorpaigh ag cur iachaill ar lucht oibre, ní hamháin sa tír seo, ach sa Phortaingéil, sa Ghréig, sa Spáinn agus áiteanna eile, gurb í siúd a íocfaidh as géarchéim an chaipitleachais, is é sin le rá, bascadh caighdeáin maireachtála, seirbhísí poiblí agus pinsin chun brabús na margaí airgeadais a chosaint. D'fhéadfadh siad sclábhaithe amach is amach a dhéanamh as lucht oibre na tíre seo, ach ní fhéadfadh siad na fiacha seo, dá mhéad is atá siad, a aisíoc. Téighfimídne i dlúthpháirtíocht le lucht oibre na Portaingéile, na Fraince, na Gréige agus tíortha eile na hEorpa chun córas nua airgeadais agus córas nua eacnamaíochta a chur i láthair ina dtiocfaidh leas an sochaí agus leas thromlach na gnáth daoine chun tosaigh, agus tíortha na hEorpa a thógaint dá bhrí sin ar bhonn difriúil ar fad, ar bhonn daonlathach, sóisialach agus ar bhonn leas thromlaigh na ndaoine seachas proifid príobháideach na bainc móra, lucht spéacláireachta agus a leithéid.

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