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

The entire strategy of the European Union, endorsed from what I can see by the Government, has been to recapitalise and repay banks, to make them more profitable, to focus on them all of the time and to pay for this by means of austerity, supposedly in the name of competitiveness and efficiency. Is there any recognition on the Government's part or that of European leaders that this is just not working? We are five years into this strategy and it is not working. As a result, the European Union is tipping further into recession. Does the Minister of State accept that all the hopes for significantly renewed growth, both in the economy and across Europe, are being dampened because the austerity strategy is not working? Is it not time that the Government raised its voice and, to paraphrase John F. Kennedy, asked not what the people can do for the banks but rather what the banks can do for the people? Is this not the time to begin to look at matters the other way round and prioritise jobs instead of protecting the banks?

Is it not amazing that after each summit the Taoiseach comes before the House and talks up the situation in Ireland, yet the projections for job creation for next year are flat? There will be no increase in employment next year. That is the issue which matters to people. All the growth forecasts are being downgraded and we are faced with an unsustainable level of debt. Is the lesson to be learned from what occurred in recent days that the European Union was forced to provide for a debt write-down for Greece because it had become apparent that the latter simply could not repay its debt and that its people could not take anymore? Is it not time that Ireland sent the same message to the European Union? Will the Government inform European Union leaders that the 1.8 million people who are living in poverty here cannot take anymore? Will it inform them that austerity is not working, that the people cannot take this pain and that we cannot afford to make €9.1 billion - or 20% of our overall expenditure - in debt interest repayments next year? Why not send that message, particularly as we have obtained diddly squat - well, words but nothing substantial - in respect of the issue of interest repayments?

My final point relates to the situation in Gaza. Do we not have a special responsibility to point to the appallingly cynical nature of the Israeli assault on Gaza which, for the fourth time in five years, has coincided with the holding of elections in Israel? Do we not have a responsibility to speak out about the fact that successive Israeli Governments think killing Palestinians is a way to attract votes? Should we not speak up loudly on the international stage about this matter? Should we ask Israel to stop behaving in this rogue fashion? As a former colony, Ireland has a responsibility to be much more blunt at European level in demanding an end to this type of cynical and murderous politics on the part of Israel.

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