Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

It has been an interesting week in Europe with local elections in Britain, Italy and Germany where parties calling for a new direction against austerity have been endorsed by the electorate. More important, France has a new president who has campaigned against austerity without any plan for jobs and growth. In Greece, we have seen an historic election in which the people have rejected austerity. In France and Greece in particular it has been a victory for hope over fear. Yet our Government is conducting a campaign for an intergovernmental treaty, not an EU one, which is based on fear. It is based on the idea of saying "It's not much of a treaty but, sure, we're going to have to say 'Yes' to get future funding".

We have the spectacle of our Tánaiste jetting out to Paris seeking to be part of the celebrations there. One could not write the script. On numerous occasions in this Chamber, I have appealed to the Tánaiste and his colleagues to listen to social democratic, left-wing and trade union voices across Europe who have opposed this crazy austerity policy. It is failing and is pushing people into the margins and despair, particularly in Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal. No doubt other countries will join them.

Here we are on Europe Day but where is the solidarity? Where is the real sense of us all being Europeans together? Where has the real vision gone? The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, wants to have it all ways. She wants to have trade surpluses in her country and wants to maintain competitiveness as well as boosting exports. She does not want to drive up domestic demand that could assist the European project. At the same time, she tells her own people that we were all reckless and feckless on the periphery, and if only we could be more prudent like the Germans we would not be in this mess. She does not tell them, however, that the Landesbank and other German banks were up to their necks in this crisis. Without due diligence, regulation or any management sense, they recklessly stuffed money into the periphery - particularly in Ireland, into private banks - and have asked our people to take that burden.

Here we are on Europe Day but it is a bit of a charade because the Government is all over the place. The Fine Gael Party wanted Sarkozy to win the French presidential election, because his UMP is a sister party of Fine Gael's. Meanwhile, the Tánaiste is diving over to Paris to get photographed, if possible, with the victorious team there. He wants to rewrite the narrative that all along he was opposed to austerity.

They want to prove that all along they were fighting the good fight, agreeing with Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Roubini, Sinn Féin, the United Left Alliance and all the other advocates of a new direction. It will not fool anybody, however. Maybe now is the time for reflection and courage. It is the time to stand up for the national interest once and for all, and see that the tide has well and truly turned, as it was always going to. People in Europe could only take so much of this. They have started to fight back and have done so with immense civil disobedience. Here in Ireland we have had mass resistance to the household charge. In all reality we have already had a referendum on that issue and on austerity. Perhaps now finally we can have an Irish Government that will stand up for our interests, give our people hope and reverse this madness.

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