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

It is not true. Second, it indicates that even Fianna Fáil, notwithstanding its support for all the referendums, knows there are serious problems at the heart of the European project that are affecting people, and they are, amazingly, calling for a wealth tax, for which some of us have long been calling for. This reveals a growing awareness among large numbers of people in this country and across Europe that these summits are not gatherings of political leaders to secure the interests of ordinary citizens or to deal with their concerns. At these gatherings, the representatives of the political elites of Europe meet to plot how they can protect the European financial system, corporate interests and the super-wealthy of Europe and shove the costs of the economic crisis down the throats of workers, the unemployed and the least well-off.

While the European elite throws out a few token mentions of youth unemployment and growth, the key watchwords that were repeated again at the most recent summit, the real priorities that are emerging from these summits, are budgetary discipline, economic co-ordination and increased competitiveness, which translates into more austerity for ordinary people that is dictated centrally by Europe, along with further attacks on the pay and conditions of ordinary workers and the welfare systems to increase competitiveness, while putting more power into the hands of the European Central Bank, the policies of which, as Deputy Donnelly outlined, have worsened the situation of the European financial crash.

To add to Deputy Donnelly's point, we bemoan the failure of the banks we bailed out to deal with the mortgage crisis, to lend to the SME sector or to behave in any way, as if they give a damn about what is happening to ordinary citizens in the economy, and the Taoiseach bemoans it, but he is moving towards giving more power to the institution that is dictating that policy to our banks. As soon as the crash hit at the end of 2008, the European Central Bank issued guidelines to the banks and to states demanding that even if banks were to be rescued with public funds, they must maintain profit maximisation as the key priority and should not be diverted into other social or macroeconomic goals. It was simple and clear. When Richie Boucher behaves like a belligerent thug at meetings of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, refusing to pay any attention to the interests of public representatives, it is because he is following ECB policy, which states profit maximisation is the only thing banks should care about. It is clearly the only thing they care about.

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