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

The bailing out of bankers in Britain on the shoulders of working-class people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is having the same deleterious effects on the jobs and lives of our people.

Destructive austerity is causing huge social dislocation and, as the Taoiseach has agreed, is a factor in the tensions among sections of the community. I put it to the Taoiseach that, unfortunately, an Executive ranging from Sinn Féin to the DUP, the UUP and the SDLP that are enforcers of the type of capitalist austerity coming from the British Government is a factor in complicating the political situation rather than the opposite. Unfortunately, they then seek other means of trying to legitimise their position and are not above using sectarianism to try to bolster that position.

See this speech in context