Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach will remember the two Lisbon treaty campaigns. The first followed the decision by the people of France and the Netherlands, in referenda in their respective countries, to reject the proposed European constitution and the direction in which Europe was going. In France, in particular, there was a huge engagement with civil society, including townhall meetings throughout the state, and the people ultimately decided to reject the proposition. However, unelected officials in Europe, in cahoots with our elected leaders, decided to rejig the constitution, abandon the national anthem and flag and so on, and repackage it as the Lisbon treaty. When it was put to the Irish people, the same process took place as had done in France, with townhall meetings throughout the State, and the Irish people rejected the proposition.

Did the EU then take a long, hard look at itself and seek a new direction? Absolutely not. Instead we had the spectacle of Mr. Sarkozy coming to the French Embassy in Dublin and beguiling the Irish people. The second Lisbon treaty campaign saw both party leaders opposite promising the moon and stars, offering gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Irish people and promising us a wonderful future if only we would cease blocking progress in Europe. We are now in an economic mess because of the direction that was taken in Europe. Yet the Government cannot even tell us whether a referendum on last Friday's agreement will be held. Instead, it is hedging around the text of the agreement and citing the need for advice from the Attorney General. When we repeatedly asked the Taoiseach in the Chamber to publish the advice from the Attorney General regarding the failure to put the European Stability Mechanism, ESM, agreement before the Irish people, he refused to do so and would not even inform us of the logic and rationale behind that decision. I am not terribly confident of our chances of getting a say on this matter. We will have to wait and see.

I will read out a list of names before inviting the Taoiseach to identify the common denominator: Peter Sutherland, former Attorney General and former Irish Commissioner in Europe; Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank; Mario Monti, technocratic new Prime Minister of Italy and former Commissioner in two different portfolios; Antonio Borges, former head of the European division in the IMF, recently resigned; Otmar Issing, board member of the German Bundesbank and the ECB; and Lucas Papademos, new technocratic Prime Minister of Greece and former head of the Greek Central Bank, which is partly responsible for the mess in which that country finds itself. What is the common denominator? All of them have either served on boards of Goldman Sachs, advised that company or presided over deals with it. The people who are primarily responsible for the mess and economic devastation caused across Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain and so many other countries are at the head of this and are pulling the strings, controlling the mechanisms. The Taoiseach is father of the House. I have asked him on many occasions if he ever imagined that he would sell a pup to the Irish people and that he would see the rewarding of those who, through their greed and recklessness, destroyed the hope of so many people across Europe, and who have remained at the helm and are calling the shots. This is a hijack of democracy. It is a scandal on which future historians will judge us harshly. What side will the Taoiseach take? He could have made his stand at that summit; he could have found some inspiration from those who came before us. He could have argued that this is economic madness. There is no solution to the banking crisis, no solution to the debt crisis and certainly there is no solution to the investment challenge. This is absolute insanity that at a time in a cycle of recession, of profound economic hardship across the Continent, but particularly in the peripheral European states, we would actually push more austerity onto the people; that we would not counter the cycle - as has always been the classic advice in economics; that we would not intervene; that we would not use our public combined immense resources to stimulate the economy to give our people hope; that we would not use the resources of the European Investment Bank, to twin with other member states, to address this crisis; that we would not punish those responsible; that we would not challenge those who have caused this recklessness; and that we have not fundamentally changed the international financial system to make it learn the necessary lessons and that we would hold it accountable. How can we stand over this? This is the hijacking of our people's democracy. This is a surrender of our hope and our ambitions to the lobbies, to the people who control the corridors in Brussels. When will we confront these people?

I believe the Taoiseach knows in his heart that I am right and that he agrees with me. At what point will he make that stand? At what point will he give hope to the Irish people who are weary, in despair and who have been burdened by all the cuts? At what point will he make his name in history for all the right reasons? The Taoiseach has big choices to make over the next couple of years. He can either go along with this insanity, this madness and condemn our people to a lost decade or he can put his name in history and he join those proud names remembered in this building. I ask him to look at the busts of those heroes in this Chamber. He can either join them in the annals of Irish history or he can join Goldman Sachs. The choice is his.

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