Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

While listening to the debate earlier I heard my constituency colleague, Deputy Tom Hayes, take issue with and criticise those calling for the burning of bondholders. I have to assume that Deputy Hayes was criticising the Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny, and the Fine Gael Party who called during the general election of 2011 for bondholders to be burned and for not another cent to be paid to the banks. Fine Gael has since reneged on its promises in this regard, resulting in this country being in a serious social and economic crisis. Fine Gael Members were elected on those promises, on which they have since reneged, which is a common story in this country.

I am opposed to this legislation which seeks to impose more austerity, to fleece low and middle income families by way of cuts in services and increases in taxation, to pay banks and bondholders and reward those who created the crisis in which we now find ourselves. Austerity has not, is not and will not work. It has not worked in Greece and will not work in Ireland. As I stated earlier, this country is in social and economic crisis, with 430,000 people unemployed - more than half of whom are long-term unemployed - massive emigration, and increased taxation by way of the property tax, a proposed water tax and various other forms of taxation. There have been huge cuts to services in the areas of education, health and social welfare. We also have a mortgage crisis, with many homes in negative equity and, sadly, a large number of children in this State living in poverty.

It is time we stopped paying other people's bills, which is what we have been doing. We must also cease rescuing the failed investments of international financiers. We must, as once stated by James Connolly, start the reconquest of Ireland and the restoration of our economic sovereignty. This can only be done by the neutralisation of Ireland's bank related debt. We must stand up for ourselves in Europe and must make clear to other European countries that we will do so. To do so requires that we cease repaying outstanding bonds, cease paying interest on the portion of the national debt which arises from bank related borrowings, cease paying the promissory notes to Anglo Irish Bank-IBRC and cease, as we did last year, procuring other banks to pay them at a cost to the State. We must also cease paying all future tranches of Ireland's contribution to the European Stability Mechanism, ESM. If the ESM cannot be used to retrospectively pay for the recapitalisation of the Irish banks, why is Ireland contributing to it? We must halt all sales of State holdings in financial institutions.

This State, which put €5 billion into Bank of Ireland, now owns a mere 15% of that bank while an American venture capitalist purchased 37% of it for €1.1 billion. Allied Irish Banks and Permanent TSB must not be sold to the ESM. They should be fully nationalised and absorbed into the public service. The State can then ensure an adequate level of lending to small businesses and end the paying of exorbitant salaries and pensions to senior executives. In the meantime, the public service directors of these banks should be made answerable to the Government and Oireachtas. These measures would represent a real move towards restoration of Irish sovereignty and would send a message to Europe that this is what we want. The notion that a formal exiting of the bailout programme will amount to the recovery of our economic sovereignty is nonsense. A combination of the ESM treaty and subservience to the market for borrowings will mean a continuation and almost certainly a further diminution of our economic sovereignty.

While Greece got a significant deal, it is only on what might be termed a life support machine.

It is a significantly better deal than Ireland received. Not only has the interest rate on the country's loans been scaled back to 0.5%, which is virtually nothing, it also received a ten year deferral of interest payments which will save approximately €44 billion. It can buy back its debt from market investors below face value and eurozone countries will be able to forgo their profits on Greek bonds held by national central banks. The Greek rescue loan maturity has been doubled to 30 years and this is another significant aspect. The question of write-downs is still in play for Greece which almost certainly means they will happen.

The claim made yesterday by the Minister for Finance that we will save billions on this new deal is nonsense. It is expected the maturity dates on a fraction of State borrowings will be put back for an unspecified number of years. The Minister has admitted there will be no write-down of debt. The State will not save a single cent overall. The total to be repaid, including interest, over the longer period will be greater. Like lengthening the period of a mortgage one pays less money annually but more in the longer term. Even Dan O'Brien in The Irish Timesclaimed the deal will be less beneficial than the deal in 2011 because there is no interest rate reduction on this occasion.

The original deal was achieved not by Ireland but by Greece, while the deal yesterday was proposed and achieved by Portugal. The Irish situation is much worse than extending a mortgage on a house. The support given by the Government to the ESM treaty will mean huge capital repayments beginning in 2015. Ireland's debt to GDP ratio is likely to be approximately 120% in 2015 and reducing the debt to GDP ratio by one 20th of the excess per year in accordance with the treaty will mean reducing it by 3% of GDP per year. Without significant economic growth it means we will pay back €4.5 billion per year in principal on top of the already €9 billion per year in debt servicing. This debt will only be paid back on the basis of yet more savage austerity imposed on working people which in turn will mean a worsening of the Irish economic crisis. I will oppose the Bill, which is a continuation of austerity which has not worked and will not work.

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