Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have five minutes. I am not an economist. I suppose I am fortunate enough to have a resident economist at home. Otherwise, I would be insolvent at this stage. I do not intend to discuss economics, what the Government did or did not do in 2008 or the decisions it took. I would prefer for us to consider what is right and wrong, just and unjust, fair and unfair. I believe the Government mindset, articulated by the Taoiseach when he explained to the world media that we all partied during the so-called Celtic tiger years, is fundamentally inaccurate.

It is bad enough to be inaccurate but that mindset has driven the Government's failure to ensure that those who created the economic crisis should be responsible for rectifying it. I am referring to the grasping bankers, the non-functioning regulators, the greedy and opportunistic bond purchasers, the incompetent politicians, the auditing companies which allowed the entire mess to build up under their noses, the developers whose greed for the quick hundred million bucks smothered their sense of what was right or sensible and most of the media, who slavishly passed on the messages about putting on the green jersey, about the fundamentals being sound and about there being a soft landing, if anything. These are the people and organisations who allowed us to reach the stage where the nation was left on the brink of abject bankruptcy.

Who is paying for these failures? The answer is the people who did not party. Those who did the right thing are paying for it. Those who followed the advice of their so-called betters by buying or building homes for their families rather than depending on social housing are paying for it. Did the people and families who are now homeless party? Did the people dependent on social protection party? Did the young people who are leaving our schools and colleges and emigrating in their thousands party? Did the people on waiting lists for hospital services or those receiving a pittance for caring for their loved ones party? Did private and public service workers on low or average wages party? Did those who followed all the advice, who took out mortgages and who are now in default and serious negative equity party? None of these people, or few of them, partied. Yet they are paying the ransom for those who caused or permitted the crisis in the first place, the same people who continue to party.

Many of the individuals and companies who bought out the bonds did so at bargain basement prices because there was a general market expectation that there would be significant losses on those investments. Did those who purchased at rock bottom prices have any inkling that this generation of Irish people would impoverish themselves and future generations to guarantee full profits for the bond purchasers and to save the European economy from collapse?

How much did they know before buying those bonds at rock bottom prices? While the previous Government may have signed up to the so-called bailout and austerity, the current Government has continued this policy. It is the gift that keeps on giving, that is, giving to the bondholders, the bankers, the auditors and to politicians, as well as to those who now are retired but were up to their necks in causing or overseeing this disaster.

It would be wrong were a neighbour of mine to tell me he placed €10,000 on a bet with Paddy Power but the horse did not come in and furthermore, that the money should have been spent on preventing his house from going on fire - because if it did, my house also would go on fire - but in consequence, he was seeking from me both the €10,000 and what he would have won, had the bet come in. Would that be right, just or fair? One can argue the economics all one wishes but it is wrong and it should be changed immediately.

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