Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach and leaders from 24 other European Union member states agreed to a new austerity treaty which will mean imposing savage austerity on the citizens of this State and citizens across Europe for years to come. It is not a real surprise that the Taoiseach supported this treaty as he has long signalled support for the austerity approach despite its devastating social consequences.

In recent days, the Taoiseach stated he had "no fear or concern or anxiety" about the prospect of a referendum on the treaty. The major focus of the Government's negotiation strategy throughout this entire process has been to avoid the necessity to hold a referendum. If he has nothing to fear from this process and is so confident about the austerity treaty, why does he not stop hiding behind the Attorney General and put the text to the people? The Government should hold a referendum on the eurozone austerity treaty irrespective of the legal advice given by the Attorney General.

Sinn Féin believes the treaty, if ratified, will have a profound impact on the Irish economy and people for decades to come. Recent opinion polls confirm that the overwhelming majority of the electorate supports our view. A massive 72% believe a referendum is necessary. It is clear, therefore, that people want to have their say on this matter. The Government does not have a mandate to sign up to a treaty which will have such serious implications for the future. It must do the right thing and hold a referendum.

Sinn Féin has argued that austerity is not the answer to this crisis but part of the problem. What is needed is a strategy for jobs and growth through stimulus. While European Union leaders seem to have finally woken up to this reality and discussed these issues at their summit, not one additional cent has been allocated to job creation. Rather than announcing new plans or providing new money for job creation, all that emerged from the meeting was a rehash of existing plans and money.

The so-called debt brake of 0.5% of GDP will heap yet more austerity on people in Ireland. It will result in the hand-over of significant control of fiscal and budgetary matters to unelected and unaccountable EU officials. The austerity treaty is bad for Ireland and Europe. Rather than stabilising the euro, it will make matters worse. In seeking to impose drastic and destructive austerity policies into perpetuity the Government is signing all of us up to budgets that involve savage cuts for its full term of office and beyond.

What is completely absent from the treaty are any moves towards debt restructuring. Last week, the Taoiseach told the world that the people of Ireland went mad borrowing and this led to the economic crisis. The reality was that Irish banks went mad borrowing cheap money from European banks. They did so to make a profit and because they were greedy. Their actions drove house prices ever higher, forcing citizens to borrow large amounts of money simply to buy a place to live. These self-same banks are now being bailed out by the taxpayer at a colossal cost of €63 billion.

Last week in the Dáil, the Taoiseach stated he did not want to have the word "defaulter" written "on our foreheads" and he had not sought a debt write-down. The point is that the banking debt is not the people's debt and should not be paid. Did the Taoiseach raise this issue at the European Council meeting?

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