Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

When the programme for Government stretching from 2011 to 2016 was drawn up, we had not heard to a great practical effect about the austerity treaty the Taoiseach is now pushing on the people. Have the Government and its economic council factored the effects of the structural deficit targets and automatic debt reduction mechanisms mandated in the austerity treaty into the programme for Government and the targets contained therein and how they will be affected by this new element? Does the Taoiseach accept that the automatic correction mechanism mandated in the austerity treaty could involve severe cuts, tax increases or a combination of both in 2015 and onwards? Does he agree that this could have a serious effect in creating further deflation and recession in the economy? Does he accept that the treaty will seriously reduce the flexibility of the Government or whatever Government is in place, if it is bound by these straitjacket regulations, and hand to the European Commission control of the size, timeframe and method of correction? Does he see the contradiction and can he explain to us whether he has factored it in and what he expects the effect will be?

Does the Taoiseach agree that when his party members run posters up poles promising stability and investment in job cretion and yet more stability, they are making a fraudulent claim? The Government is bowing down to the sharks in the financial markets which create instability with their speculation and drive for mass corporate profits at the expense of society. Does the Taoiseach accept that these sharks will not give a fig about what is written in the austerity treaty if their punts on Spanish and Italian bonds and so on do not bring in enough profit or if there is a question over them? How does the Government square the fact that these powerful forces, these faceless, unaccountable and unelected financial marketeers, are way outside its control, with its promise of stability if it succeeds in frightening people into voting "Yes"?

The Taoiseach has spoken about growth and pointed to the jobs created by multinationals. I welcome every case in which a worker gets a new job. What does the Taosieach have to say, however, about the downside of his policy and its impact on the domestic economy? What does he say about the fact that gross national product fell by 2.5% last year? This reflected a huge crisis in the domestic economy which is what dictates and determines the level of unemployment. In that regard, why has the Taoiseach not been screaming about the necessity for growth and investment? Why has he not been screaming in Europe that some of the €1 trillion given by the European Central Bank at 1% interest to European banks should be mandated to be invested in job creation, small enterprises and so on instead of being speculated on sovereign bonds? A few sentences may be tagged onto the austerity treaty to make it look a little better, but does the Taoiseach agree that it is not convincing in the slightest?

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