Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

That is the point. Is there no recognition on the Taoiseach's part, as there is across Europe, that the austerity agenda is not working? It is crippling growth. The latest EUROSTAT figures indicate that the debt crisis has returned with a vengeance. I specifically asked the Taoiseach if he could clarify for the House and the public what cuts will be necessary from 2015 onwards when we have exited the troika programme in order to meet the targets and requirements of the fiscal treaty, which requires us to cut our debt in half which, in turn, will require €4.5 billion in cuts annually for approximately 20 years and approximately €5 billion to €6 billion in cuts to meet the deficit targets after 2015. If those figures are not correct, can the Taoiseach give us the correct ones? Surely, the Taoiseach is not going to tell us that more brutal cuts and austerity will not be needed from 2015 onwards, which agenda is destroying the European economy.

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