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

Under the influence of austerity the European economy plunged back into crisis this week. The chorus of opposition to Angela Merkel's austerity treaty has increased, with unions and governments across Europe, including some of the Tánaiste's former comrades in the Irish trade union movement, have come out against the treaty on the basis that the austerity required would be disastrous. The Government stands almost alone with Angela Merkel in continuing to promote this treaty as a good thing.

In that context, the Taoiseach stated yesterday that the citizens of this country should have access to every piece of available information on the fiscal treaty prior to the referendum. That commitment is hard to credit given that the Government has hidden the troika away from the press and Opposition precisely because it might make comments that will upset the citizens. If the Taoiseach's commitment is a serious one, what will it cost the State to meet the treaty's targets for 2015 and beyond in regard to reducing the debt to 0.5% and the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60%? I will be helpful in this regard. The Central Bank quarterly bulletin for April indicates that our GDP is €162 billion. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is due to reach 120% by 2014, which means a national debt of €200 billion. Reducing that to 60% would require us to halve our national debt -----

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