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

There is no moral, political or democratic justification for denying the citizens of this country or their counterparts across Europe a say in whether we should sign up to an arrangement, whereby permanent austerity will be imposed on them, society and the economy. The draft of the treaty in circulation makes it clear that such an arrangement is being contemplated. It refers to fiscal austerity rules being binding in force and permanent in character and stipulates that governments must guarantee to impose these rules on their national budgetary processes. What is envisaged is written in black and white for all to see. The democratic right of citizens and their representatives to decide their own economic policies will effectively be abolished with this treaty. Surely, the very least to which the citizens of the country are entitled is the right to decide whether they want to abolish their right to control matters relating to their economic and social future.

Permanent austerity means permanent mass unemployment, emigration and attacks on the most vulnerable in our society, namely, those who are already reeling owing to the impact of three years of austerity measures which have not worked. When will European leaders and the Government learn that the policy of austerity is not working? Every indicator shows that the European economy is shrinking and that austerity is the cause. What is being done appears to be underpinned by a belief that technocrats know better than the people and their elected representatives. It is absolutely clear that all technocrats know about is balancing books. That does not get people back to work, nor does it make economies grow.

All the money we have collected via the austerity measures is being hoarded in the vaults of the European Central Bank. We need it in order to create jobs and foster growth. Why is no one talking about releasing and investing it in our society in order to create jobs, improve services and build infrastructure, thereby encouraging growth in the economy? The people should at least be given a vote in order that they might choose the path we should take.

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