Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Nuair a thosaigh an díospóireacht maidir leis an EU blianta ó shin, caithfidh mé a admháil nach rabhthas riamh ina bfhábhar. Cheap mé go mbéimid i bfhad níos fearr fanacht amach but the people voted several times and that is where we are. I am glad I live in a democracy. I believe in democracy, particularly as a woman, when I think of those countries where there is a lack of democratic rights because people live under dictators or despots. However, our democracy is being seriously undermined by the decisions that are being made about us, our society and our economy outside this country. As the motion states, we are under the control of the ECB as a member of the eurozone. Coming down the line is an unelected EU Commission setting out a range of fundamental EU treaty changes. How is that democratic? We spent 800 years under British occupation and we have had approximately 90 years of independence. I wonder whether we value this independence and why the Government is content, for whatever reasons, to allow the Union to be master of our destiny.

I acknowledge the work of Deputy Pringle in getting this topic aired in the Chamber and in opening up a proper discussion on the eurozone. There was a nationwide public consultations process for the review of the White Paper on Irish Aid. It was a good process and I would value a similar process to examine our membership of the eurozone. Like Deputy Catherine Murphy, I am a member of the constitutional convention and there may be a role for the convention in this regard when we conclude the eight specified topics under discussion. Our President recently asked what we mean by "European" and by "the Union". These are the central issues that should be addressed in the public debate.

Two phrases apply to our membership of the Union - one is putting all one's eggs in one basket and the other is the little fish in the big pond. An unlimited supply of money to banks and states led to a crash and nobody wanted to hear the words "Enough" or "Stop". We then had the massive blanket bank guarantee here followed by massive devastation and burdens on eurozone members, including Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy. We are members of this EU club and being a member of a club carries responsibilities, which I accept. However, we also have rights. Some of our rights are being eroded. Where is the justice for people in bailing out every bank and bondholder and implementing austerity? There is little equality and democracy in the EU club. We are paying disproportionately and those who had the least to do with the banking crisis are paying the heaviest price. I support the Ballyhea Says No campaign to meet high level ECB and Commission officials to discuss these matters and for them to hear the voices of ordinary people instead of the voices of politicians and their officials.

The fiscal political union has done little to address the social pact, which was an original fundamental of the Union. I was impressed by what the President said when he referred to the loss of social cohesion and the deficit of democratic accountability. He reminded us of what European values were - personal dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and rule of law. Those values are being seriously undermined because we are not seeing an EU that is inclusive or respectful of equality; we are witnessing an unelected Commission determined to pursue the establishment of the great European marketplace that will protect certain people in institutions with little or no regard for ordinary people like the unemployed and the disabled - daoine ar an imeall.

We had a lovely video from an inner city school a few years ago, "Give Up Yer Aul Sins". It is time we had a similar one entitled "Give Up Yer Aul Austerity". Membership of the eurozone has to be a vehicle to benefit all in Irish and European society. We are giving away control of our economic destiny but alarm bells rang when I read about Mr. Barroso wanting to transform the EU into "a federation of nation states with increasing powers for Brussels". He further said: "The world needs a Europe capable of deploying military missions to help stabilize the situation in crisis areas... and to begin truly collective defence planning." Our Army has done great work as a peacekeeping organisation and it has a role working with armies in the developing world on human rights and on the treatment of women.

I would like to keep our membership of the Union under review regarding its benefit to the people of Ireland and not just its benefit to certain sections of our society and provided we can preserve our autonomy.

See this speech in context