Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the ratification of the treaty. In 2011, the president of the German constitutional court said that it would be tragic and fatal if we were to lose democracy on the road to saving the euro. Thankfully, the Attorney General was brave enough yesterday to give the advice to the Government that we must recognise that Ireland is a democratic nation with democratic sovereignty. She advised the Government there would be no choice but to hold a referendum on this fiscal compact treaty. This has been a good day for the Irish people and a good day for democracy. At the very least, the Irish people deserve to have a debate on this issue and to have the opportunity to answer as to whether they agree with the ratification of this treaty.

I will campaign for a "No" vote because I believe that this treaty is wrong, that it is an attack on democracy and that if passed, it will be a tragic outcome in that we will have lost democracy in order to save the euro, in the words of the president of the German constitutional court. This is the fact of the matter because it removes any democratic power of this Parliament or of the Irish people in exercising fiscal control in the future. The treaty sets cast-iron rules with which we must comply, as has been outlined by other Members today. It means we will be in a situation of permanent austerity and that we will be continuously working to fund the reduction of debt and the payment of interest on the bailout and to the troika.

The Tánaiste in his contribution said that this treaty gives us guarantees and protections but I disagree. He argued this treaty contains nothing new, that it merely confirms the six pack and the other agreements made in December at European level. This treaty gives the right to another member state, another contracting party, to take Ireland to the European Court of Justice if that member state is of the opinion that Ireland is not in compliance with the restrictions imposed by this treaty. We will then be at the mercy of the court, regardless of what short-term measures we need to undertake in order to protect our economy and our society.

This treaty also gives the right to other nations who may be viewed by the Commission to have breached the terms and conditions of the treaty, to use their reverse majority voting to ensure that they are not brought before the European Court of Justice. In effect and in practice this means that Germany and France, combining with a couple of other smaller nations, will have a sufficient blocking majority to ensure that they would not be brought before the European Court of Justice and held to account for not complying with the terms of this treaty.

The Government will argue that this is not the case and that it could never happen. The first two countries to breach the Stability and Growth Pact were Germany and France. When it suits their needs in the coming years, when it suits their agenda, they will breach this treaty also, in the full knowledge that with the reformed voting rights they possess, they will be able to combine and perhaps force a couple of smaller member states to join with them in order to achieve that blocking majority to ensure that they will not be made to comply with the terms of the treaty. We can rest assured in this House and the Irish people can be assured, that Ireland will be made to comply with every letter and word contained in the treaty. Therefore, I argue there are new provisions in this treaty which are very dangerous for us, for our democracy and for our sovereignty. Those things need to be discussed and considered very carefully by the Irish people to ensure that we get the right answer. I hope that answer on the day will be a "No" vote.

In the coming weeks leading to Easter, the House will be asked to ratify the European stability mechanism treaty. This treaty is linked in its preamble to the fiscal compact and the two treaties go hand in hand. I call on the Government and the Attorney General to ensure that the ESM, European Stability Mechanism, is also put before the people and that on the day we vote on the fiscal compact, we also vote on the ESM treaty because the two go hand in hand; we cannot have one without the other and we need to put those questions to the people.

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