Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

As expected the Greek Parliament passed a vote of confidence in the Greek Government late last night. This should lead to a second bailout but it depends on new, brutal austerity measures getting through the Parliament. Two laws must be passed by 30 June so that procedures will move at the euro group on 3 July. The IMF will then release a fifth loan instalment. If the bailout is agreed it will copper-fasten an overall proposed €120 billion loan on the Greek people. The plan will include a sale of more than €50 billion of Greek assets, equal to one fifth of the country's annual GDP and €28 billion in cutbacks and tax increases. Was the quid pro quo bailout hammered out this past weekend by Brussels and Washington? As part of the terms of agreement for the next bailout, the IMF and EU insist that Greece pass further new austerity measures. When this is done, the Irish debt crisis will return to the top of the agenda once again, of this there is no doubt.

The Government has failed to place Ireland on the agenda at the EU Council meeting this week. It has allowed the unravelling of the Greek situation to bury any serious consideration of the same events that are heading our way. The issues at the council meeting this week include economic policy, migration, Croatia, the inclusion of Roma people, the endorsement of the launch of the Danube strategy, discussions on the new package and issues relating to Libya, Syria and the Middle East. Where are we on this agenda? The European Commission chief, Mr. Barrosso, is back to pressing his influence, publicly stating yesterday that the Greek people must accept there is no alternative and that austerity and privatisation is the only way forward. He stated that the EU and the IMF will not suffer any other programme, that everyone must take responsibility and that the EU is prepared to support Greece if Greece is prepared to follow the terms of the agreement the EU negotiated with the Greek Government. In his typically dogmatic style, he also stated that the prospect of a deal to cut the cost of the Irish bailout was simply not up for discussion at tomorrow's EU summit.

Ireland's Government accepts the EU premise that permanent austerity for Greece and Ireland is the only game in town. There is no end in sight. Let us consider that reparations demanded of Germany following a World War ended only this year. Is this the type of punishing timeline we face? Most rational and responsible commentary by economists, independent observers and media throughout the globe holds that providing second, third and fourth bailouts to countries in financial crisis cannot cover up the fact that the monetary union is fundamentally flawed and that weaker states cannot compete with the core. Rather than face up to the situation and begin to think creatively, the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government is determined to pursue and cement the failed economic policies of the previous Government. In its view any attempt to debate alternative proposals amounts to treason.

A second, third or fourth bailout will not solve the Greek debt crisis. Further austerity measures will only deepen the crisis. The Greek people know this and this is why they are protesting furiously day after day, demanding that their Government reject the EU bulldozer. They seek a viable alternative. The only other possibility open to them is to exit the euro, return to the Greek currency and restoration of control over their national economy. It is no coincidence that the pressure mounting for more and more bailouts comes from core EU countries, the very countries that facilitated and profited from the excess lending that contributed to these crises in the first place. International observers agree that the faster Greece accepts the inevitability of default, the faster it will return to solvency. Anything else simply prolongs the agony. The Greek people know this and the Irish people know this. Why is the Government hell-bent on walking us into the same situation? As an article in The Guardian newspaper pointed out on Monday:

Europe's leaders have no plan B. They see no need for it because they are still committed to plan A – the European dream of fraternity and solidarity. This must be defended at all costs, even if it means permanent austerity for Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and any other country that can't cut the mustard.

Where is the Government's back up plan for what is waiting around the corner: the great taboo that no one will mention? Will we once again be caught in the headlights, scrambling for solutions and dependent on our so-called betters in Europe to save our skins so that we can save theirs? Is it beyond the wit of Ministers to think, consult and develop their own agenda? Where is the creative and brave alternative?

Insanity is defined as repeating the same mistake again and again. Is this the stage we are at now? The Government is sleepwalking the people into a delusional Shangri-La concocted by the troika in the interests of the ECB and the powerful states of Europe. The Government should be honest with the people. There has been enough of the window dressing and the mad chat that Europe is favouring us with loans at extortionate interest rates. Loans must be paid back and a loan is not a gift. Santa Claus has not come to town. The EU and ECB are committing us to crippling debt for decades to come.

In assessing the Greek situation last week, The Financial Times pointed out that although proposals such as leaving the euro are considered inconceivable today, such inconceivable proposals may not seem so far fetched five years from now, especially if some of the peripheral economies stagnate or go further into recession. The newspaper stated that:

The eurozone was glued together by the convergence of low real interest rates sustaining growth, the hope that reforms could maintain convergence; and the prospect of eventual fiscal and political union. But now convergence is gone, reform is stalled, while fiscal and political union is a distant dream.

Debt restructuring will happen...But even debt reduction will not be sufficient to restore competitiveness and growth. Yet if this cannot be achieved, the option of exiting the monetary union will become dominant: the benefits of staying in will be lower than the benefits of exiting, however bumpy or disorderly that exit may end up being.

Is our Government considering these questions and observations that are being expressed externally and at home or are we still covering our eyes and ears to what we simply have no wish to hear? What is the Government's plan B? There is none. It amounts to debt heaped upon debt, more borrowing and digging and deepening of the hole, more of the same and no alternative in sight. This is exactly what the Green Party and Fianna Fáil Government started in 2009 and now we are right down the same Greek path.

Last week, the Minister for Finance stated that the Irish Government is in a strong position to impose losses on bondholders of two failed lenders despite strong doubts that it would permit a move so far beyond solutions being discussed for Greece expressed by the European Central Bank. The revival for the pre-election pledge to go after senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society coincidentally occurred at the same time the Government celebrated 100 days in office. Frankfurt has not changed its resistance to any measures to impose losses on senior bonds and the ECB could not have made this more clear. Unfortunately the Minister's window dressing of events proved to be little more than a publicity stunt and political manoeuvring. This begs the question: where do the Government's priorities lie. Is it investing time and energy in saving face or committed to real action that will affect the lives of people throughout the State? Is the Government committed to the EU or the people of this nation? Time has more than run out. What message are we delivering to our European partners at the EU Council this week while we watch the future of our nation being tragically played out in Greece? Our Minister for Finance is negotiating more lending. This used to be termed "fiddling while Rome burned". Are we completely blind, completely bullied or is it a tragic combination of both?

The other issues I wish to raise relate to the discussions on the Middle East. I am sure the Taoiseach will refer to the Arab spring and the campaigns for democracy across the region. In regard to Palestine, this State, through successive Governments, has a long and proud history of defending the Palestinian people's interests. At various times in our history our Governments have put forward concrete, constructive solutions at international level and engaged directly with the players. I ask the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, to return to that policy and to be proactive in defending the interests of the Palestinian people. One need only consider the reaction when the United States President, Barack Obama, talked about the need for at least a two-state solution, recognition of the Palestinian people and a state based on the 1967 borders, an entirely reasonable proposition which would see the Palestinian people having just 22% of their original lands. That reasonable proposal was ferociously rebutted by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu. It was a disgraceful and outrageous rebuttal in a context where the siege of Gaza continues. Many heroic Irish people are trying to intervene in that siege as part of the peace flotilla seeking to bring much needed resources to the people in the area. I appeal to the Government to up its game and to lead the charge at European Union level, as the Tánaiste said he would do. We must push forward the momentum that is required for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

In terms of the so-called Arab spring across north Africa and the Middle East, it is important the international community is consistent in how it intervenes across the region. We have had, and rightly so, a United Nations resolution in regard to Libya which seeks, as it was described, to protect the interests of the Libyan people and to protect them from attack by Gadaffi. That initiative is now being turned into a drive for regime change by the French, Americans and British. We cannot have that initiative on one hand while on the other hand we ignore the rights of people in Bahrain, Yemen and, most recently, in Syria. There must be a consistent approach across the region. Wherever people stand up to campaign peacefully for their democratic rights, the international community must step in assertively to defend the right to protest, assist that process and defend human rights.

There is great cause for concern in the relationship some agencies in this State seem to have with the Bahraini Government. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, which has a base in Bahrain, refuses to speak out against the actions of the Bahraini Government, including the imprisonment of doctors trained and accredited by the RCSI. It is outrageous that the college did not speak out against a situation where doctors were imprisoned for doing their job and following the hippocratic oath. There must be consistency on this issue at European Union level and a message must go out that our interest is only in human rights and democratic rights and not the oil and resource considerations within those states.

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