Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Listening to Labour Party Deputies, I was torn between wanting to laugh and cry. They doth celebrate too much methinks. They are trying hard to convince themselves that they have reached some great achievement with this promissory notes deal. That Irish Nationwide Building Society was responsible for Tom McFeely and Priory Hall is the last straw. Meanwhile, citizens across the State are concerned about the antics last week in this House late at night. It smacked of the bad old days when deals were done in the middle of the night, there was a lack of information and a lack of democracy, while the best of spin was put on the matter.

It does not matter what way the Government dresses this up, the reality is that, flying in the face of everything on which it had contested the general election, it has taken the bad bank debts, with the undemocratic promissory notes, enshrined them as sovereign debt and foisted it on the shoulders of future generations. The burden-sharing sought by the Labour Party is for our children and grandchildren. God forbid, German, French and English bondholders and institutions would have to take their cut. Instead, we transfer it to the people. Labour Party Members' claims that they have seen off Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society are an absolute joke. Everyone knows these banks had effectively closed down years ago and were being wound down. That was the basis for the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC. Labour Party Members shedding crocodile tears for the workers in the bank is a bit rich considering that they voted for the process that made them redundant, some of them learning about it when they tuned into Vincent Browne's show on the evening the legislation was introduced.

A constituent wrote to me to explain how she was employed for several years in IBRC to wind down Anglo Irish Bank and maximise recovery for the taxpayer. In her correspondence she pointed to the millions of euro she had recovered from various loan books and how she had never gained from a large salary or bonus in her 12 years at Anglo Irish Bank. She had saved for years to participate in the employee share-save scheme which had been wiped out in nationalisation. She had taken a preferential staff mortgage in 2006 which was now costing her a fortune for a negative equity property. She is the main earner in her family and her dwelling is unsuitable for her family needs. The last week has been devastating for her and her family without being treated with dignity or respect. This is the case for many other employees of the bank also, some of whom have been told they will not be entitled to statutory redundancy as they voluntarily made a decision to transfer to the receiver.

If workers at the helm of these banks are being treated this way, it is also the case that other workers across the country are being let down by the deal. It is not correct, as Deputy Nash said, that we are borrowing to pay our way. The amount raised in taxation is enough to keep the economy going. We are borrowing to pay the national debt and the interest on it, a significant part of which is accounted for by the private banking burden. The Government lauds thie deal as a great achievement with savings when tens of billions hve been pumped in to shore up these private banks - some €20.7 billion from the National Pensions Reserve Fund and €12 billion sweated from the backs of people through austerity. If the saving of €1 billion was to have any meaning, the Government would eliminate the home tax which, in turn, would free up people's spending money and stimulate the economy.

The announcement of this great deal took place at the same time as the Central Statistics Office revealed horrendous statistics about those living in poverty. In the past year the level of those living in consistent poverty has increased to 7% of the population. The Labour Party's solution is to put a private debt on the shoulders of the people concerned. To me, it is an absolute betrayal and will not be the forerunner for economic recovery. The Government has simply decided to use the continuing policies of austerity to bleed people dry. That is not the way forward and the people will realise this in the near future.

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