Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)

The simplicity of this motion typifies the Sinn Féin approach to economics and economic policy. We are constantly left with the prospect Sinn Féin coming in and its approach being based on emotion and fantasy versus an actual plan or one based on reality. It is necessary sometimes to take stock of where the economy is at and what this country has gone through. We have had the collapse of an entire economic sector of society in the construction industry, on which one in six jobs were dependent at the height of its growth, which has led to huge unemployment. We have a heap of debt hanging around the neck of the country as a result of reckless and dangerous banking policies and a Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin-supported bank guarantee. That has had a crippling effect on the State finances and the ability of the State to pay its bills and to pay its way, which has resulted in the necessity of external lenders coming into this State to fund our public services and to keep us afloat. On top that, we have a global economic crisis that is not lifting and continues to reign. We also have a recession in the eurozone. On top of all that, we have a crisis of confidence in the future and the very existence of the eurozone currency, the so-called debt crisis and currency crisis. All these issues are a very heavy burden and weigh severely on our tiny country and they all have to be dealt with one by one. That is what the Government is doing.

We need to get real. We do not have complete and utter sovereignty over our economic matters. We work within the European Union with a common currency and over the years we have shared sovereignty, responsibility and control of our economic policy. There are other people involved in paying for the bailout that we have received, people who are putting billions of euro from their economies into the programme. They want to ensure the money they put in will not cause the problem in the eurozone to drag on but instead solve it. The treaty tries to repair a design flaw in the currency to ensure the problems we have with excessive debt and runaway spending will not recur.

Sinn Féin, however, forgets this in our interests. The euro is not only used on mainland Europe, it is the currency in our pockets that is used by our businesses; it is what we are paid in and what our savings are in. We are inextricably linked with the survival of the euro. Perhaps because the Sinn Féin speech writers are paid in sterling, they cannot make this connection.

It is interesting that the recent announcement by the Government on the renegotiation of the promissory note for this year has been treated with such cynicism and derision by Sinn Féin. It is clearly a positive step, just as the reduction in the interest rate, the renegotiation of the minimum wage, the jobs initiative and the renegotiation of the asset disposal policy were all positive steps that never even received a small round of applause from Sinn Féin.

During Leaders' Questions this morning Deputy Mary Lou McDonald criticised the lack of detail on the promissory note, despite being told the negotiations had not concluded. She asked on which cut backs the Tánaiste would roll back. This is a constant argument from Sinn Féin that I take on on local radio in Galway and in this Chamber - its complete refusal to acknowledge that on top of our banking debts, there is a fiscal crisis in current spending is shameful. I have heard Sinn Féin representatives on local radio talking about the paying back of Anglo Irish Bank bondholders, refusing to mention that it does not come from the State and will not have an effect on anyone for ten years, while saying they could easily reverse cuts and change policy if this payment did not have to be made. The same happened this morning with the promissory note, with Sinn Fein Members saying if we did not pay back the money, we would have an extra €3.1 billion available. That is not true; it would be an extra €3.1 billion that we would not have to borrow and add to the national debt.

This is a fake argument in which Sinn Féin treats people like idiots, manipulates them and stirs up anxiety to create a sense of unfairness. The people know that times are tough, and the public is suffering, but the manipulation and arrogance shown by a party seeking electoral gain is deeply cynical. When the history books are written and people look back at the greatest economic crisis the State has ever endured, they will look with scorn at Sinn Féin for the cheap politics it played during a time of national crisis.

See this speech in context