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

Is it not the case that European leaders were staring into the abyss last week and had to produce something new or face going over that abyss? Is it not also the case that when one examines the detail or lack thereof in the so-called breakthrough, there is good reason to believe it may be something of an accountancy trick, especially in light of the statement by the Minister for Finance immediately after the great declaration that there will not be any easing of the burden of austerity to be imposed on people this year? Moreover, given that we own the banks, does shifting the burden from the sovereign to the banks not mean re-imposing it on citizens in another form?

The European Stability Mechanism, the fund that is supposed to bail out the European banks, has a capacity of only €500 million and it is estimated that the hole in the Italian and Spanish banks alone is €2 trillion. Does this not guarantee that Ireland will have to fork out the entire €11 billion called on this country under the ESM to bail out these banks? We do not know the size of the hole in the rest of the banks. One of the major problems in Europe and Ireland at present is the failure of the banks to lend and to put credit into the system. Is it not the case that shifting this burden from one place on the accountancy balance sheet to another will simply mean those banks we have recapitalised will be even less likely to invest and lend into the economy-----

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