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

Debt and jobs are the Moses and prophets for this country and for Europe. Everything else is secondary relative to those two issues. Unlike Deputy Martin - who just took a political pot shot for the sake of it in terms of the Tánaiste raising the issue of the promissory notes and debt in Latin America - I have no problem with the Tánaiste raising the promissory notes in Latin America, at EU Council meetings and on any and every platform he can. He absolutely should do so, both for the people of this country and for the people of Europe as a whole. However, when he raises it, is it just theatrics or are we serious? Is there serious intent behind it? Is there a red line being put up where we say that we are not crossing this line if the EU does not give us a deal that makes a difference to the debt and to jobs? The two are directly connected because every euro we have to pay out to bondholders and banks is a euro that we cannot invest in jobs. The equation is simple and it is not just simple in this country but in Europe also. If the priority is bailing out banks, then we do not have the money for jobs and investment collapses. If we do not have investment, there will be no jobs. On current projections, even in the best-case scenario - I have repeated this on numerous occasions and I hope at some point members of the media will focus on it - unemployment will only be down to 13.5% in 2015. Is that the vista that we have to look forward to? If that is our strategy and if that is our best outcome, it is nothing. It offers no hope to the people who are desperate for jobs and for our economy as a whole because if we do not get people back to work, our economy is banjaxed and will continue to be banjaxed.

What, apart from appeals, are we saying to the European authorities to back up those appeals? Is there any red line? Is the Government saying to the authorities that they must give us a serious and meaningful deal, not one that is just stringing it out but a deal that will make a serious difference to the budget arithmetic next year and our ability to have funds to invest in jobs and economic growth?

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