Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputy Stephen Donnelly. I am delighted to speak on pre-European Council meeting statements. In case the Taoiseach thought I was mocking him, ag magadh faoi, I compliment him on his efforts and travails all over the world and in Europe over six months and on the self-belief and what he achieved during the Presidency. I compliment him on being gracious most of the time, except when he took the liberty to undermine the Committee of Public Accounts and its Chairman, Deputy John McGuinness, while he was in Rome. It was a serious misjudgement. Perhaps he got carried away by spin doctors encouraging him that Deputy McGuinness was vulnerable and could be ousted.

I supported the holding of the G8 summit in Fermanagh and the supporting legislation passed by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter. I disassociate myself from remarks made by Deputy Clare Daly last week. We can have problems but we cannot have something happen to the leaders while they were here. The exposure Dublin and Wicklow got was fabulous, as was the visit of Mrs Obama and her children to Dublin. My daughter, as a Foróige delegate, was privileged to attend the Gaiety Theatre for the Riverdance performance. Deputy Clare Daly does not have to look at Bono as a tax exile; she can look much closer to see tax cheats. Her comments were hollow and her wording was despicable. I have no truck with it and I do not support it.

Since the Council last met, it has been confirmed that over 27 million Europeans are unemployed. Growth projections in key economies, the eurozone and the European Union as a whole have been cut. The EU budget is already inadequate for what is required and has been delayed. The holding of these pre-Council debates is often held up as a shining reform and an increase in accountability but the reality is that there is no accountability because we are continually getting the Taoiseach's statement on how everything is great and important things are being decided. I wished the Taoiseach well but he is self-deluding and thinks he is punching above his station. He is getting quite carried away. That is why I said I would welcome him back to reality next week. Perhaps he will deal with the issues of misery and trauma that Irish people are dealing with.

Apparently, tackling unacceptably high rates of youth unemployment is a top priority for the European Union, yet it is incapable of getting it right. We often hear the best youth employment results are seen in EU countries where young people have the chance to get to take part in high quality traineeships and where well established apprenticeship schemes form an integral part of the training and work placement system, none more so than our own. The figures are being manicured because if emigration was not taken into account the figures would be appalling. The EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion has commented on this:

The euro crisis has brought a double-dip recession with devastating social effects, particularly for 'peripheral' countries and the young generation. But our latest analysis confirms the advantages of apprenticeships and traineeships in terms of helping young people to get a quality job. This underlines the urgency for all Member States to make the Youth Guarantee a reality before the end of 2013.

We also heard calls on all tiers of Government to improve career services and employment agencies. The European Commission has proposed setting minimum quality standards for apprenticeships at European level to ensure skills acquired can be recognised throughout Europe. What has the Government done about this? Precious little. Tosach maith, leath na hoibre was the old Irish phrase. At the start of the six months, we had noble words and aspirations about stability, jobs and growth. We have seen none of these. We saw weakness and talk and wasteful meetings that achieved nothing.

Last week the Tánaiste declared, in the kind of spin that he has become good at since he crossed the Chamber, that he had the financial situation sorted out. MEPs from many countries and other agencies in the European Union pointed out there was no substance to his claim. The only inroads to the unemployment crisis is the number of spin doctors and advisers that the Government has hired. They should disengage them and have some honesty, soul-searching and truth and we might get somewhere. That was a real humiliation and a new low in the dying days of our Presidency.

With regards the reform of the CAP, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, must deal practically and pragmatically. We must have balance and we cannot have the likes of Cement-Roadstone Holdings, airport authorities and other conglomerates getting large single farm payments. It weakens his chairmanship of the issue by allowing this to continue. We must have sharing and the ordinary small farmers, who are suffering and struggling, must be supported. Farming organisations and the IFA will not thank me for this but we cannot stand over massive payments and unfair penalising of smaller farmers because of a calendar date. We want to get all small farmers productive and keep them productive. We should make sure that we get the best use out of our land and family farms and we must encourage inactive farmers to become active. If we blindfold them and tie their hands behind their backs, they cannot do so.

We have failed unilaterally in the banking problem. There is abject failure on behalf of the Taoiseach, and none more so than in the case of the tapes leaked in the dying days of his Presidency. I wonder why they were released and I wonder whether it has anything to do with the Bill going through the Dáil as a smokescreen. Today, the Taoiseach admitted the Garda Síochána have had the tapes for four years but he cannot inform the House whether the Minister for Justice and Equality has heard the tapes. If not, he should have.

Having been forced by the European Union to bail out these banks, when the EU recklessly lent money here knowing that our banks were bust, we should have used the Presidency. The Taoiseach will not do so because he might upset someone if he stood up to the people over there and told them they must share some of the blame and take some of the responsibility.

See this speech in context