Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

When I last spoke on this issue I referenced in detail the economics of Mr. Michael Taft, which starkly revealed that Ireland was bearing a huge share of the cost of bailing out the system in the EU in that it was paying 42% of the total net cost to all 27 states and a staggering 26% of GDP, the cost of which is €9,000 per person in Ireland as opposed to €190 per person in the EU.

Unless the deal being negotiated changes these figures, it is not a deal in the interests of the Irish people. The Government amendment states it is trying to negotiate the best possible outcome for the Irish people. It is clear now that any deal will not change this reality. Irish people will be stuck with the bulk of the bill in bailing out greedy bankers and speculators in the bond markets. This sell-out of the Irish people cannot be masked by the huffing and puffing of the Labour Party. If it was serious about putting it up to the ECB and the EU Commission it would vote for the motion and stick to its guns and to what it said prior to the election. Otherwise it was elected on a lie.

The Government has repeatedly and publicly accepted the €30 billion payment for defunct banks will be paid. Its real concern is to get a deal which pushes payments out so the Government will not have to fork out €3.1 billion, or possibly €6.2 billion considering the three-card trick it pulled last year, next March and the year after. The same goes for the smoke and mirrors trick with regard to the interest payment on these notes. These notes are used as collateral for money lent to the IBRC by the ECB. The interest rate for the money is 0.75%. A long-term bond to replace the notes would hardly be at a lower rate.

When the Government came to power it had an opportunity to carry out its election promises to burn the bondholders and negotiate a write-down on the bank bailout debt. Instead of showing some liathróidí - as people say - it opted to be the poster child of austerity. The Minister of State must see the reality every day in communities where austerity is breaking the backs of many Irish people. It has been brutal, with long-term unemployment increasing and people feeling the effects of cuts impacting brutally on household economies and the emotions of families. Disabled people have been affected by cuts to grants. Old age pensioners come to our offices pointing out their incomes have been cut by up to 15% through all the little cuts implemented in recent years. The household package was cut and the phone allowance will be cut this year. Limits have been placed on medical cards and they are also affected by the universal social charge. The health service has been cut drastically, with the abominable revelation that St. James's Hospital's budget will be cut by €9 million because it kept within its budget. This is unbelievable. A paltry number answered the Government's call for 1,000 nurses to take up €21,000 jobs. Fair play to the INMO for launching its outstanding campaign. Workers have been hit by the universal social charge, the pension levy, cuts in wages and bin and household taxes and their pension funds have been raided. The property tax is not based on an ability to pay or on people paying stamp duty. A water tax will be introduced which will probably be based on assessment only and not on what the criteria would have been for water meters.

Families live on less than €50 per month. Austerity is impacting more and more on communities. We have yet to see the detail of the finance Bill due before the House on 14 February. Ironically the Minister will introduce a tax on maternity benefit on 14 February. Electricity prices are increasing while the price of food is not decreasing and people are feeling the effects of this. I call on all workers, those unemployed and those affected by the cuts to be out on Saturday, 9 February in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Sligo and Limerick to get behind the campaign against austerity. Do not just stop there; demand of our unions that they move further and demand that the bailout be stopped.

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