Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If the Opposition can point to a functioning, modern economy anywhere, whose Government and multinational companies cannot borrow money on the open market, then we are all ears. If the Opposition can point to a country whose economy can flourish without a functioning banking system, then I ask Members opposite to enlighten us please. If the Opposition can explain how we can continue to pay for valuable public services while continuing to spend far more than we earn, then let them lay it on the table. We can have all the discussions about austerity, but we need to be clear about one core fact: it we do not have control of our public finances than we cannot control our destiny.

I believe in public services. I believe in having good schools, good hospitals and safe streets. I believe in them so much that I do not want to hand decisions about those things over to foreign banks or lenders of last resort. The bottom line is that every slogan rattled off by Sinn Féin, every drum beaten by the mé féin brigade that calls itself an alliance, is about policies that take us backwards to the isolation that has been supported by some people who have opposed every single EU referendum since 1972.

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