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

Debt is a huge millstone around the necks of the Irish people and taxpayers. The payment of billions of euro in debt every year by taxpayers is crucifying families in this country, particularly low- and middle-income families. This debt is not the debt of the people. We are not and were not responsible for it and we should not be asked to pay it. It is the responsibility of the banks, bankers and bondholders. At the forthcoming Council meeting, the Taoiseach must demand a write-down or mutualisation of that debt, because while that debt hangs over us the economy will continue to struggle and recession will deepen. One of the headings for the Council meeting is the implementation of strategies already agreed. These are strategies of austerity and cuts, but that policy has failed and is deepening and prolonging the recession.

This morning, I got a letter from the Mandate union which describes the situation in just a few sentences. The letter states that the recent job loss announcements and closures of B&Q, HMV, La Senza, Monsoon and Superquinn, to name but a few, are just the tip of the iceberg, that the reality in retail is that the whole sector is in crisis, with many companies, large and small teetering on the edge of survival, and that the sector is suffering from a severe lack of purchasing power among consumers. This is the result of the policy of extracting billions of euro from the economy, which has put our domestic economy in huge difficulty. It has created a situation in which we have 430,000 people unemployed - over 14% of the workforce - of whom 60% are long-term unemployed. We have 27% youth unemployment and huge levels of emigration. The policy of cutbacks, austerity and the extraction of billions from the economy must stop. We must turn to a policy of stimulus and growth under which jobs can be created.

Another matter the Taoiseach should address at the Council meeting is the issue of reduced support payments for redundant workers. This is relevant in the context of the multi-annual financial framework or budget, which the European Parliament has refused to pass. That budget proposed a reduction from €3.57 billion to €1.05 billion, a reduction of €2.5 billion or two-thirds, in support payments for workers who have become redundant, workers such as those from Dell, SR Technics, Waterford Crystal and Abbott Ireland, which suffered 400 job losses in the recent past. This fund has been hugely reduced. The Taoiseach must ensure that cut is reversed and that the fund is topped up to ensure there are reasonable and sufficient supports for redundant workers.

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