Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the banking debt and the European Union, I recall a movie from a long time ago called "The Secret Life of Words". Do these words have some secret meaning that I miss? The Taoiseach quoted them. He obtained a commitment in June to examine the situation of the Irish financial sector with a view of further improving the sustainability of the wealth performing adjustment programme. That is it. Would the Taoiseach agree that calling it a seismic shift is investing in very simple words meanings that have no relation to the reality and that his credibility has been badly undermined by Chancellor Merkel? What have the European Union leaders been saying to him concretely as he and the Minister for Finance have been lobbying them in this regard?

Has the Taoiseach read the state of the union address by the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso? He called for a more liberalised Europe with more austerity and more flexibility, in order words workers must give more and more to meet the demands of the markets. Does the Taoiseach agree with this? Does the Taoiseach agree with President Barroso's call for more privatisation, which he has been driving for some time? Does the Taoiseach agree with his call for a Europe that is capable of deploying military missions, in other words a militarised union? Does the Taoiseach agree with him when he calls for a federation of Europe, in other words a mirror image of imperialist United States of America, a Europe which can wave a big stick or armaments over poor people throughout the world to get its way? Is this the Taoiseach's vision as well as that of the European elite? Will the Taoiseach explain how in any sense this could mean a better world for the 25 million or 27 million of our people throughout Europe who are unemployed at present and for those who are suffering under the disastrous travails of austerity and the dictatorship of the bond markets and speculators? Is the Taoiseach at one with Mr. Barroso on this?

See this speech in context