Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

It is difficult to offer a detailed alternative when during the past year we have continuously raised alternatives to the policies dealing with wealth, public spending, creating jobs and the national jobs plan. I wish to deal with some points made during the debate. Deputy Donohoe summed up the argument for the "Yes" side when he said, "Show me the money." Are we to see posters in the campaign stating "Vote Yes for a second bailout", with the phrase "even though we will not need it" in small print? I remember the posters from previous campaigns on EU-related referendums calling on voters to "Vote Yes for jobs" and those which stated "Europe is working". However, Europe is not working. Unemployment in the European Union is approaching 25 million. In Greece the unemployment level is 24% and at an outrageous level of 60% among young people. In Spain, unemployment is 23% and at an outrageous level of 50% for young people.

These figures are comparable to the mass unemployment at the height of the 1930s great depression. Ireland and Greece have suffered an economic slump of 1930s proportions. There has been a 6% fall in output in Greece year on year, totalling between 16% and 20% from peak levels. The position of Ireland is worse with national output down by 24% from the peak, ten times the level during normal recessions. We are committing ourselves to a binding fiscal treaty. We need a proper, adult discussion on the crisis and its possible solutions.

People have lost their jobs and their homes. Among the most vivid images from this recession and the attendant austerity are the pictures we saw in the newspapers this morning taken in an affluent area of the city. A man of 71 years and a woman of 63 years were dragged from their homes by representatives of a bank that we own. This was done by four burly bailiffs while the Garda protected the property for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. These images will cause outrage among the people in the coming period because they are the images of austerity and recession. I do not envisage the Government resolving the problems the images illustrate in respect of insolvency for homes etc. The families who have virtually nothing left to live on after paying bills deserve a serious discussion on the pros and cons of the treaty.

I call on Deputy "show me the money" Donohoe to reflect and question whether the options and alternatives were carefully weighted up when the previous Government adopted the blanket guarantee of the banks. They were not. We heard nonsensical views, including the view that there would be no cash in the ATMs unless we took action. That poorly informed, inadequate discussion condemned and burdened the State with an unsustainable level of debt and disastrous consequences. In addition we have been subject to four years of austerity which have collapsed demand, activity and jobs in the domestic economy.

The fiscal treaty will enshrine into enforceable rules a policy that is not working and that will prolong and deepen the slump in countries such as Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal. It will prolong and deepen the recession and the levels of unemployment in the eurozone as a whole. Austerity is not a solution; it is part of the problem. Voting "No" is not an act of insanity since what the Government is doing is not working. A sane person would stop and begin to examine seriously the alternatives. I will campaign vigorously for a "No" vote in my constituency, Dublin South-Central, in the coming six weeks and I am confident the people there will vote "No" against this austerity fiscal treaty.

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