Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

Several times today and as reported in The Irish Times, the Taoiseach said the policy of the Government was to ensure growth, not default, a message that was repeated by the Minister. Is it not more correct to say the Government's policy is one of a wing and a prayer, namely, to comply with all of the terms of the troika bailout, follow to the letter the orders from the ECB and in the process inflict austerity on the people and the economy which neither can afford and then hope for the best?

We cannot get out of the mess we are in without growth in the economy, and we cannot achieve the level of growth needed if the Government continues with the savage austerity programme of the past three years, taking €20 billion out of the economy in cuts and taxes, and plans to take out another €10 billion in the next three years. People expected more from it. Continuing with this level of austerity is not a strategy for growth but, at best, a strategy for very low growth and stagnation, with mass unemployment, high emigration and the dismantling of essential services. Is it not obvious that the problems of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland cannot be solved by austerity? Surely we should learn the lesson of Greece, the economy of which is expected to contract by 7% this year and must now face ten more years of austerity. If the Greek referendum is held, there is little doubt about what the result will be.

In the same way that the Government has no strategy for growth, the solutions from the EU summit contain no strategy for growth, no strategy to deal with the 17 million jobless, to respond to the OECD prediction that the growth rate in the euro area will be a mere 0.3% in 2012, and to deal with the €16.5 trillion debt in the European Union. There is not a snowball's chance in hell of any of this working and it is only a matter of time before Italy seeks a bailout and the Greeks default. The idea that we can decouple from these problems by following the programme laid down for us is ludicrous. Instead of decoupling, why are we not linking up with Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal to demand real solutions? Why are we not telling Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy that if they want to save the euro and the German and French banks and the peoples of Europe, they need to put their hands in their pockets and challenge the dictatorship of the market? The people are not prepared to stand by and take the austerity measures which are not in our interests and will not solve the problems or deliver growth. The Government should give the people the opportunity to vote on this issue in a referendum.

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