Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

More and more people are coming to the view that austerity is not working. Even those who support the economic system we operate in are coming to that view and are expressing it forcefully. Before we came into the Chamber this evening the IMF - that bastion of the capitalist system - said there are very serious dangers in forcing countries to pay down debt too quickly. It also said there are serious dangers in prolonging the recession for decades. Across the board, voices are saying austerity is not working and other avenues, such as stimulating the economy, are important.

Money is flowing out of the country on a daily, indeed hourly, basis and the people are being ripped off. This is not something new. Throughout history we have had situations like this. This issue was faced by Michael Davitt when he founded the Irish National Land League and opposed rack-renting landlords. It was also faced by James Connolly, who wrote about it in The Re-Conquest of Ireland. In that pamphlet he pointed out that the Irish rich were collaborating with international financiers and others to support the ripping off of the Irish people. Even Éamon de Valera, when in government, found himself in the same position in relation to annuities. The country is being bled dry and we are faced with the same rip-off today as were those people throughout the years. We need leaders to stand up for the country and for its people.

The amount of money being taken out of the economy and out of the country is horrendous. Tomorrow, another €1.25 billion will be paid to unsecured speculators and Anglo Irish Bank bondholders, many of whom bought the bonds at knockdown prices and will make huge profits on that repayment. As much of half the repayment will be profit for these bondholders and speculators. The €3.1 billion to be paid in March of this year and for ten years and further until 2031 will amount to a minimum of about €47 billion. However, when everything is taken into account the actual amount will be in the region of €85 billion. These huge sums of money are being taken out of the Irish economy and are forcing austerity on Irish workers and families, particularly middle income and poor families while, as James Connolly said, the super-rich get away scot free and pay little or no tax - certainly not their fair share - and pay no wealth tax whatsoever.

The single biggest rise in Government spending between 2008 and 2010 was an increase from €2 billion to €4.9 billion in debt interest repayments. This figure will rise further, to €6.8 billion this year and to €10 billion in succeeding years. We believe money borrowed to cover the debts of private banks should not be paid. A considerable portion of the debt interest payment arises from this source, and this is interest alone. Additional capital repayments will make debt servicing a crushing burden for decades to come.

With regard to the promissory note liabilities undertaken by the State in relation to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, TASC, the progressive research group, has this to say:

If we assume a fairly benign 4.7% interest rate on Government borrowings after the country has exited the external financial assistance programme, we can estimate that the total cost of these notes between 2011 and 2031, including interest on the borrowing, will be €85 billion. Under this scenario, the annual cost would peak at over €5.3 billion in 2023 and there will be continuing debt interest costs on payments beyond 2031.

The transfer of this money out of the country and the payment of bondholders and speculators is creating huge austerity and a spiral of recession. Earlier tonight, the IMF again downgraded growth forecasts for the coming year. Irish households, middle-income and low-income families, low-paid workers and people on social welfare payments are paying through the nose for this recession, which they had absolutely no hand, act or part in creating.

Not alone must we stop this repayment of bonds, we must also ensure that the super-wealthy Irish, who own assets of €220 billion, are made to pay their fair share of taxation on those assets. We must have a wealth tax to support the Irish economy and Irish workers and their families.

I second the motion.

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