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

I wish to take the opportunity provided by means of my contribution to the debate on the Bill to commend the Ballyhea Says No group on its actions and to place its proposals on the record of Dáil Éireann. The group in question has been marching in Ballyhea for the past 115 weeks. The group in Charleville has been marching for 100 weeks and the growing Ireland Says No movement has been doing so for 15 weeks. The Ballyhea group commenced its protest on 6 March 2011, shortly after the most recent general election and in the immediate aftermath of the announcement by the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, that burden-sharing with the banks would not happen. The latter was, of course, a complete U-turn and represented a reneging on the promises and commitments made by Fine Gael during the general election campaign. Apart from its weekly march, the Ballyhea group has visited Dáil Éireann on three occasions, has travelled to Brussels on two occasions and has been in the ECB's headquarters in Frankfurt. Its members did all of this at their own expense. The Ballyhea group includes members of all political beliefs and none. Collectively, the group is apolitical. The members of the group are not economic experts and do not pretend to be. In the context of age, gender and employment status, they represent a cross-section of society. However, they have a single, united agenda, namely, to lift the unjust bailout from the shoulders of the people. Those in the group are not going to rest until they have been successful in that regard.

The Ballyhea group has put forward a number of proposals in respect of bank debt, the Europe-wide crisis and the major imbalance that exists in the context of Ireland's contribution to resolving that crisis. It has called on the ECB to write off the €28.1 billion in sovereign bonds currently held by the Central Bank in lieu of the promissory notes-----

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