Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the Minister of State for being late. Deputy Dooley and I were involved in a conference call to colleagues in the Scottish Parliament to discuss EU matters. The first question we were asked was about Ireland's experience of joining the EU, to which each of us gave our own impressions and memories. It was amazing to hear such a range of views and perspectives on the type of country we lived in at that time. Ireland was one of the poorest countries in western Europe in the early 1970s. On the global stage, the United States and the Soviet Union were facing up to each other and nuclear weapons were pointed on capital cities throughout the world. The apartheid regime in South Africa was still in place, as well as the old colonial regimes across Africa. There was huge upheaval in Latin America. In our own country there was conflict across the Border, which went from marching for civil rights to war on the streets.

We have seen major changes in Ireland in the past 40 years, many of them very positive. At that time we joined the EU there was a major unemployment problem. I was arrested later in the 1970s for putting up posters showing a graph of the unemployment rate since our joining the EU. People tend to have a rosy view that Ireland was somehow transformed overnight after joining the Union. That was not the case. In fact, large numbers of jobs were shed in those years. The open market opened up new opportunities for Ireland, but there were also many factory closures and so on. This was a world without laptops or mobile telephones. The young people in the Gallery would be amazed to hear that people had to go to the local telephone booth to make a call. Contraception was not readily available and then only to married couples. Women in the Civil Service lost their jobs when they got married. Many of the positive changes we have seen have come about at least in part from our involvement in the EU because there was a lack of political will by politicians to address the issues. Indeed, it proved useful in many cases to cite our EU obligations as justification for pressing forward certain controversial changes. EU membership helped to drag us into the 20th century and on into the 21st century.

No observer in the early 1970s could have predicted the massive changes that would see the European Economic Community growing into the 28-member European Union we have today. Ireland has seen positive and negative effects from its EU membership. Irish people, while generally not concerned with the day-to-day business of the EU, which seems very removed from their lives, remain sceptical of the increasing powers the EU is giving itself. That disconnect is a common theme when talking to people. The EU and its workings are often seen as something that does not really affect people in their day-to-day lives, with surveys showing that many citizens cannot even identify their MEPs. It is an issue we need to address. That apathy can be seen in the rejections of several EU treaties in a series of referenda. The Lisbon treaty was passed only at the second attempt, after the Irish people were subjected to scaremongering by the EU, the Government and most of the mainstream parties

The free movement of people, goods and services has undoubtedly helped the Irish economy to escape its former isolation and attract new business and investment. Numerous human rights cases taken to the European courts have forced Irish Governments to improve protections in the human rights area and update archaic law. However, the gross mishandling of the economy by successive Governments by way of light-touch or non-existent regulation of business and banking operations ensured our economy went into free fall. Instead of burning the unsecured bondholders who were gambling with the Irish market, as Sinn Féin argued for, the Government, strong-armed by an EU which was afraid of contagion, chose to burden our taxpayers with the gambling debts of these bondholders.

The bailout programme has been a disaster from start to finish. We have seen a huge increase in youth and long-term unemployment and a massive increase in emigration. I was in Madrid at the weekend where there is 40% youth unemployment. People there are angry at what they see as corrupt governance not just by the current conservative Government, but also the previous socialist Government. There is much talk among citizens of quitting the country. That lack of hope that things will change is familiar to Irish people. Here at home we see increasing homelessness and a housing crisis that the Government will not face. We have seen the introduction of a family home tax and the imminent levying of water charges. Our health service is in serious crisis, but the Government is cutting more than €600 million from its budget.

While we have seen a small improvement in the economic climate in recent weeks, there can be no certainty that this potential recovery is based on solid foundations. Despite economic growth and improved trade figures, our domestic economy is still extremely stagnant. Families cannot continue to endure wages cuts and job losses while indirect taxation increases and new forms of taxation are introduced. Most families are barely keeping their heads above water and have very little at the end of the month to spend in the domestic economy. We may have exited the bailout programme, but for ordinary people, very little has changed or will change. As long as private banking debt remains bundled up with our sovereign debt, exiting the bailout programme will not change the reality of austerity for people. On the basis of our current loan profiles, Ireland will remain under surveillance until 2032. Even thereafter the Commission can choose to prolong that surveillance. Moreover, during that period the Council may impose on us whatever measures it deems fit.

The parties in this Government have always enthusiastically supported the diminution of Irish economic sovereignty in treaty after treaty. There has been no critical analysis from the mainstream parties, with everything that comes from Europe deemed positive and welcome. We know to our cost that this is not the correct approach. Those who adopt an unthinkingly positive approach to Europe are effectively opponents of Irish economic sovereignty. Their record is clear on that point, even though the primary aim of current EU economic policies is to ensure member states do not deviate from the neoliberal economic ideology the Union is pushing. The fiscal compact treaty and other EU economic decisions such as the two-pack and six-pack arrangements see a continuation of this erosion of economic sovereignty for EU member states.

Other small states such as the Scandinavian countries have done well in working for their own interests in Europe. Irish Governments, on the other hand, have continually failed to stand up for the Irish people. This Government seemed for a time to exist only for the amusement of the troika. It never stood up for Ireland and failed to get our banks recapitalised, despite the Eurogroup commitment of June 2012. The troika's legacy throughout Europe is mass unemployment, emigration, increased poverty and the devastation of communities and public services. Exiting the bailout will change little for hard-pressed working families.

Let us not pretend that the Government or the EU have any intention of ending austerity. The message is all about continued belt tightening.

The EU will continue to push its economic programme, which prioritises the needs of big business over those of hard-pressed citizens. Ireland's engagement with the EU needs to focus on standing up for a better and fairer economic model that benefits citizens and is not focused on appeasing business lobbies.

Many key EU personalities are continually calling for greater European political union and, more worryingly, a united states of Europe. People across Europe are concerned about this move towards EU federalisation. While I agree that more mutually beneficial co-operation between European states is always welcome and has led to huge progress for the Continent, we have to ensure that Ireland, as a small state, does not become overwhelmed by an increasingly centralised and undemocratic political union that is dominated by a small number of large countries. I want the EU to be a true partnership of equal sovereign states that co­operate in social and economic development. During the conference call I mentioned earlier, reference was made to Connolly's view of Europe as a "federation of free peoples". I think people across Europe want the EU to develop in such a way.

The Government could and should do much more to ensure Ireland's voice is heard in Europe and Irish interests are respected and listened to. The EU continues to suffer from a democratic deficit and a lack of accountability. Decisions continue to be made without oversight from ordinary people. This lack of scrutiny prevents ordinary people from actively participating in the decision-making process. It is important for us, as part of this debate, to examine the extent to which European legislation is scrutinised. The European Parliament's travelling circus, which moves between Strasbourg and Brussels at a cost of €200 million, needs to be scrapped. Brussels should become its permanent home, as the European Parliament has voted on and supported. Aside from the economic cost, it just does not make sense to ask people to physically move from one place to the other.

The gap between ordinary people and the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament is growing. As a result, the decisions taken at EU level do not reflect people's real concerns or needs. There is a view that the EU has shown a lack of urgency regarding the crisis of recent years. People are not responding to it. The European Commission is living in a bubble. The EU institutions are not coming together to assist those countries that are experiencing difficulties as a result of the crisis. There is a clear disconnect between the lives of European bureaucrats and the reality that faces millions of struggling working families across the EU. Member states do not have the flexibility to implement alternative policies which would support investment, growth and jobs. In effect, the EU is working to deny citizens real political choices when electing their Governments. I will give an example of that. At a time of crisis throughout Europe, the EU decided to pull back on the European budget rather than expanding the stimulus programme across Europe. Progress is not happening. Cuts are being made in relation to connectivity, etc. The budget is largely the same, if not smaller.

It is important for the EU to become a project of its people, rather than remaining a project of the elites. Irish foreign policy should reflect this when this country is engaging with the EU. The EU has a significant role in this regard. I am concerned that since the Single European Act in 1987, successive EU treaties have corroded independent foreign policy to the point where our neutrality is virtually all we have left. The Nice and Lisbon treaties, which were initially rejected by the Irish people, have transferred political, economic and military power away from member states and granted it to centralised EU decision bodies. The Lisbon treaty, in particular, took a great deal of power from EU member states in the areas of foreign affairs and defence. It is shocking that in 2010, at a time when the citizens of EU member states were being crippled by brutal austerity policies, the EU's military expenditure totalled €194 billion.

Lobbyists from the whole military industrial complex in Europe continue to pontificate about the huge risk of disaster if EU member states were to cut their military expenditure. In fact, high military spending by countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain helped bring about economic disaster. I am proud that Ireland has one of the lowest military spends in the EU. There have been some military spending cuts since the financial crisis hit the EU, but there has been a focus on personnel cuts, troop reductions and recruitment freezes, etc. This State stands out in the EU for its significantly low level of military expenditure. It is a record we should be proud of. Ireland's engagement with European countries should focus on opposing the further militarisation of the EU. The Government should ensure Ireland does not participate in EU battle groups or support the increased push to create a standing EU army. Irish neutrality is extremely popular among the vast majority of Irish people. The State should reflect that by opposing any forms of further EU militarisation or erosion of our sovereignty.

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