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

Given the deteriorating situation in the eurozone, did any of the leaders of the eastern European states and other EU member states have any questions for the Taoiseach on the policy of continued austerity and bailing out banks, the detrimental effect this was having on growth in the European economy and how it might affect them? Did the Taoiseach have any discussions with the leaders of the eastern European states about the impact of the sale of State assets? These countries would be very familiar with the process of rapid disposal of state assets. The Taoiseach may be aware that this is something which led to the massive enrichment of a tiny minority of oligarchs in eastern Europe who gained control of these assets but which has led to major job losses for working people in these eastern European states. Did their leaders have anything useful to say about the experience of the wholesale privatisation of state assets and the effect this had had on society and the economies of these states?

See this speech in context