Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)

I support the treaty and its contents, as I have supported EU membership in the past. In addition, I have always supported the proposal that we have a referendum on this issue, including before the correct opinion of the Attorney General.

I support the terms of the treaty for two principal reasons, one being that the euro is our currency. We decided on EU membership democratically and the consequences of coming out of or collapsing the euro are horrific. Therefore, in the best interests of all the Irish people, I support our currency, the euro. Second, I support the terms of the treaty itself, which is essentially about having national budgets which are balanced. That is a good thing, and I say that in the context of our experience of the past few years and the collapse of the Celtic tiger. I would have thought that, as Members of this Parliament, if we had learned anything from those years, people on all sides of the House would have appreciated the benefits of balanced budgets. We take in taxation and, accordingly, we spend our money. We should not go back to the days of Governments ratcheting up national debt or, as has happened in the past, Governments using public money to buy elections. That has been said not just by myself but by people to my physical left, who have argued in favour of people voting "No", so, of course, they contradict themselves now.

If we have learned anything from the years of the Celtic tiger and its collapse, it is the need for regulation. This treaty, in fact, enhances regulation. It goes back to the question of whether we want balanced budgets. What is even more amazing - perhaps it is not terribly surprising - is that the people who purport to be on the political left, or, as I call them, the pseudo-left, would be opposed to regulation in regard to balanced budgets.

There is one issue in regard to any point that relates to European matters in this House, namely, there is a collection of people here who, irrespective of what the issue is in regard to EU membership, are opposed to it. These are the little Irelanders who never wanted to be in the European Union in the first instance and who have a particular frame of mind with regard to the people burning turf, dancing at crossroads and such things from the past. That is not what the people want and certainly it is not what industrial workers want. They want employment and investment and we will secure these under our membership of the EU. A previous speaker rightly outlined the benefits of EU membership for the farming community. Speaking as a Labour Party Deputy and an urban dweller, the EU has brought great benefits to industrial Ireland and its workers in terms of equal pay, safety at work and such issues. I believe these would never have come about or would never have been initiated had it not been for EU membership.

The use of the word "austerity" is the best those opposed to the treaty can come up with. I am convinced that some of them do not believe what they say in this regard. The treaty has nothing to do with austerity; in fact it is the opposite. However, if one is against the EU and one wishes to make some points or have a go at the Government, one invents something else. The invention of relating the treaty to austerity is false. It represents the depths of hypocrisy from the people who come to the House and try to convince the population that they should vote against it. These are the same people who were jumping up and down about the importance of a referendum on the treaty. However, they got pipped at the post, much to their disgust. There is great competition between Sinn Féin and the highly Technical Group to establish which would have the highest paid barrister in a court room. That was part of the competition but this time they have lost out.

The perception among the people of politicians in general is low. I have listened to some of the comments on the other side from those calling for people to vote against the treaty. I heard some of them refer to Anglo Irish Bank. However, most of them ran up the stairs in the House in September 2008 and voted to bail out Anglo Irish Bank and we are all aware of the cost of that. Bailing out Anglo Irish Bank has destroyed the nation. Yet these people come to the House now and try to tell us about the terrible austerity. They contributed to the austerity and they voted for the bailout, which should never have occurred. These people have no wish to be reminded of it. I recall a very good poem written by John Kells Ingram known colloquially as "Who Fears to Speak of '98?" I put it to the people who voted for the Anglo Irish Bank bailout that they fear to speak of 2008. They have no wish to hear of their part in the bailout of Anglo Irish Bank in 2008. This is where politics stands. I support the treaty. I hope that in the interests of the people at large and especially those of the 400,000 plus who are out of work that the treaty is successful because there will be no recovery and no change without the help of those in Europe. Anyone who opposes it or who presents any argument in favour of its opposition, is guilty of nothing but humbug.

See this speech in context