Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach has another European crisis summit. In his interview in The Irish Times today he spent most of his time explaining why the issues affecting this State will not be raised by him. That has been his constant mantra before and after every summit he has attended. Yesterday, I asked the Taoiseach if he would bring a jobs stimulus plan to this summit; the answer was "No". I asked if he had concrete proposals about how the EU structural funds should work; the answer was "No". I asked if he had explored how funds from the European Investment Bank could be used in conjunction with the National Pensions Reserve Fund to stimulate growth and jobs; the answer was "No". He stated his position: "It is not Ireland that is in focus at this time." That is his explanation for not raising these issues.

He also welcomed the Van Rompuy report which sets out a charter for closer EU integration on a banking, fiscal and political union. The Taoiseach must know this means more co-ordination on tax policy, even more dilution of Irish sovereignty and stronger EU involvement in State budgets. Is that not the real reason he is not bringing forward his own proposals for growth that would get our people back to work? Is it not because he supports these federal EU propositions?

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