Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

It is not even a month since the people went to the polls on the issue of the austerity treaty. We are the lucky ones because most of the 495 million EU citizens did not get a chance to have their say at the polls. The Irish people said "Yes" with a very heavy heart. Many did so because they believed they had no choice. They believed they would otherwise fall off the funding cliff. A week or two following that referendum result, there has been a complete disregard of the Irish people. The Government then claims it is likely to push for a further federalisation of Irish political and fiscal powers. Individual citizens who had done their best to come to a difficult decision are now told that this is not enough because the plan is to force further political development in the State. The Government is not standing up for the people of Ireland. The difficulties being experienced by us are being disregarded. My colleague, Deputy Adams, has described some of the cuts implemented in his locality. In County Meath, Our Lady's Hospital in Navan will soon lose overnight accident and emergency services. The Government's cutbacks and austerity are creating deep difficulty within Irish society in terms of the basic services people require. In addition, as has been mentioned, 76,000 people were forced to emigrate last year due to the Government's decisions. The GAA generation is being deleted from our midst because of austerity policies.

Consider the damage caused in this State by monetary union. The property bubble could not be ameliorated because we did not have interest rate powers to try to pour water on that fire. There is also the damage from €64 billion being sunk into the banks by this and the previous Governments. That is a direct result of the monetary union in which the State finds itself. The Government's solution to all this is further monetary and fiscal integration. This Government, in tandem with Angela Merkel, is pursuing a policy that is creating instability. The policy of this Government and the German Government will either bring about the end of the euro or, the only other option, federalisation of the eurozone. Again, it will be an either-or choice for the Irish people.

European Council President van Rompuy and European Commission President Barroso pulled no punches in the pre-Council meeting report, entitled "Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union". The language is unambiguous and federalist. They are preparing the road for yet another power grab. We voted "Yes" and by doing so we have, unfortunately, emboldened the federalists within Fine Gael, the Labour Party and in the EU to grab more power from the Irish people and hand it to the centre. Every time power is grabbed from the Irish people and given to the centre the priority of the Irish economy is no longer accepted. Indeed, we have come down to third, fourth and fifth in the list with regard to policy decisions that happen in Europe, instead of the Council summit considering appropriate ways to deal with investment. Members will recall that the debate before the fiscal treaty referendum was about investment for jobs and how jobs and growth are the only ways to get us out of our problems. Now, however, Fine Gael and Labour Party Ministers increasingly tell us that it is not investment that will solve the current problems, but the further hand-over of Irish sovereignty and political power.

The Government has a major opportunity at the forthcoming meeting to take the problem by the scruff of the neck for the first time. It can talk to other marginalised states around Europe, build a consensus or a coalition of nation states in Europe and use that coalition to create a bulwark against the federalists who are increasingly trying to take power from Irish citizens. It can also use that consensus and coalition to seek investment from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and the European Investment Bank to get people back to work rather than sending them on the route to emigration.

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