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

The upcoming European Council meeting is heavily focused on economic matters. Once again, the European semester will be debated and the Council will take stock of how it has worked so far. Many across Europe see the semester as simply another tool to reduce the economic sovereignty of member states. Its main function is to give the European Commission, which is an unelected body, the power to decide the make-up of member states' annual budgets. It is being forced into place to ensure that member states are locked into the same right-wing economic policies which have ruined this economy and continue to place the needs of big business over struggling and hardworking ordinary citizens. While there was much hype and spin by the Government over exiting the bailout, the harsh reality is that Ireland will remain under extra surveillance until 2032 as our loan profiles currently stand. Even then the Commission can prolong the surveillance. During that period, the Council can impose whatever measures it deems fit for us. The EU controls our future and economic decision-making more than ever.

Last week, we had the EPP Congress in Dublin involving a collection of conservative parties from across the European Union. As was signalled, they praised Ireland. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, described Ireland as an economic success. Unsurprisingly, she did not focus on the €666 million the Government has taken out of the health care budget or the huge housing crisis affecting Dublin.

The Chancellor did not speak about youth unemployment, the high level of emigration or retrospective recapitalisation. It was not surprising either that she did not refer to Irish taxpayers paying unsecured German bondholders.

Even the President of the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, got in on the act by thanking Irish people for their courage, noting the leadership shown by the Government and describing the past decade as "ten very challenging, very exciting years". While they may have been exciting or even risqué years for Mr. Barroso, the word "exciting" does not reflect the nightmare journey taken by families faced with the prospect of losing their homes and jobs or the possibility of losing their children to emigration. Again, Mr. Barroso failed to make reference to Irish taxpayers being strong-armed into bailing out unsecured bondholders for billions of Euro. He also neglected to focus on the fallout and legacy of the troika's presence in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, namely, mass unemployment, emigration, increased poverty and the devastation of communities and public services. His intervention was an attempt to rewrite the narrative and pat little Ireland on the back for bailing out gamblers and speculators and devastating public finances in order that millionaires and billionaires would not have to take a hit on their unsecured bets.

Mr. Barroso also made no reference to a write-down or retrospective recapitalisation. Has the Government given up on this goal? Is it satisfied to receive thanks and plaudits for lumping this heavy burden of debt on its citizens? Is it content to continue to erode economic sovereignty by handing it to the European Commission through the European semester?

This week, a key anti-austerity leader of the Syriza party in Greece visited Dublin and spoke of his country's serious social and economic problems. I was struck by the similarities between the journeys Greece and Ireland must take. The main message we must send to the European Council meeting is to emphasise the importance of working together to produce alternatives that improve the lives of ordinary citizens across the European Union.

I note the European Council will discuss industrial competitiveness. Recently, one of Ireland's leading economists, Professor Morgan Kelly, warned that the recovery is masking underlying problems with the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. Professor Kelly is held in high regard in the economic field for forecasting the scale of the housing market crisis. He believes that when the European Central Bank inspects Irish banks, it will find that a significant number of small and medium-sized enterprises have mounting debts. According to Professor Kelly, these enterprises could be wiped out when the ECB tries to clean up Irish banks.

The Government's focus recently has been on job creation and it is keen to spin the message that recent figures demonstrate jobs growth. While all jobs are welcome and the figures show that unemployment has decreased in the past 12 months, these data must be treated with caution. The Central Statistics Office has been cautious about the figures given changes in the way in which the numbers of self-employed persons and persons employed in agriculture are measured. Recent research has shown that 60% of emigrants were in employment before leaving Ireland but chose to move abroad because of low pay, an insufficient number of hours and the lack of career opportunities. If the 127,000 persons of working age who left the country since 2009 had stayed, the unemployment rate would be 19.7%

The domestic economy is still in dire straits and there is evidence that jobs growth is being polarised, with little growth in high paid sectors and the greatest gains being made in low paid sectors. The economy is still much too dependent on multinational companies. Last week, it was revealed that Apple paid only $36 million in tax on profits of more than $7 billion from its Irish registered operations. It appears the Government does not have any interest in challenging multinational companies which are abusing loopholes in our tax law. Its response to the ongoing revelations has been a mixture of denial, embarrassment and silence. If Ireland is not at fault, I ask the Taoiseach to raise the continued abuse of tax loopholes at the European Council meeting and seek EU-wide action to prevent multinational companies worth billions of euro from neglecting their tax responsibilities. Will he also raise the concerns expressed by Professor Morgan Kelly?

What proposals will the Taoiseach bring to the European Council meeting to try to improve the industrial competitiveness of Irish firms and the domestic economy? One of the many concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises is the high cost of energy. What action will the Government take to tackle this problem?

As an island, we have high and fluctuating transport costs. The proposed levy for heavy goods vehicles using British roads will significantly increase costs for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in Border areas. The measure flies in the face of the EU concept of free movement of goods and services. I ask the Taoiseach to raise this issue inside and outside the formal Council meetings. Does he agree that this provides a further reason for creating and developing an all-Ireland economy?

The Taoiseach stated that climate change will also be discussed at the forthcoming European Council meeting. Recent storms and floods demonstrated the devastating impact weather can have on businesses and communities. Ireland needs to work with European Union institutions and international partners to help slow the process of climate change and prepare defences to battle against its effects. Will the Taoiseach seek funding from the European Investment Bank to help build new and better flood defences?

Ireland has one of the highest rates of winter deaths in Europe and fuel poverty is one of the main issues affecting households here and across Europe. Retrofit schemes are one way of reducing fuel poverty. They save energy, make economic sense and, more important, have a major impact on homes and families. Will the meeting focus on this issue in the context of the discussion on climate change?

Rising fuel prices are an issue across Europe and need to be tackled on a Europe-wide basis. This can be done through the provision of supports and long-term investment in the development of renewable and green energy sources across Europe. Biofuels have become a major issue in Europe and across the globe, especially in Africa. I hope the EU-Africa summit will focus on biofuels and the practice of substituting them for food crops. Europe must review its policies to take account of climate change and examine the spread of biofuel crops. Ireland must raise its voice on this key area of concern.

Recent problems in Ukraine stem from the European Union and United States, on one side, and Russia, on the other, playing a zero sum geopolitical game with that country. Ukraine was essentially offered an opportunity to place all of its eggs in the EU basket on the off-chance that it may at some stage become a member of the European Union. The alternative was to put all of its eggs in Russia's basket and remain under Russian influence, while being surrounded by countries which have taken the European Union route. All the while, Ukraine was practically bankrupt, socio-economically regressing, rife with corruption and in the depths of winter. Rather than trying to force Ukraine down one route, the European Union and Russia should have worked together to create mutually beneficial, non-exclusive economic, political and social relationships with the country.

Given it borders these big powers co-operation would have made sense and would have benefited the ordinary Ukrainian and Russia and Europe. However, again the zero gain process was chosen.

The situation is Crimea is continuing to worsen, with a lack of adequate stability and security. I look forward to hearing what the Russian Ambassador has to say today at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade about his country's negative involvement in this area. The local government in Crimea has called for a referendum to be held on 16 March in regard to its remaining part of the Ukraine or joining the Russian Federation. While everybody has the right to self-determination and to decide democratically their country's future by way of free and fair vote, given the crisis situation in the Ukraine I believe this referendum has been hastily called and comes at the wrong time. The focus now needs to be on de-escalating the crisis. Once peace and security has returned, decisions of this magnitude can be debated and decided by the citizens. Any referendum needs to be free and fair. It also needs to be free of any foreign influence. These conditions cannot be guaranteed in Crimea at this time. The decision to hold a referendum on 16 March was made on 6 March. Ten days is far too short of a lead-in time for a referendum on such an important issue. All voters need to be given time to make up their minds and political parties and civil society groups need time to formulate campaigns to support or oppose referendum questions. Ten days is far too little time and does not follow democratic best practice.

Yesterday the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, rejected an offer of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, until such time as Russia engages with US proposals on Ukraine's crisis. I believe this is counterproductive and that both sides need to sit down and talk. Does the Taoiseach believe that this meeting should have gone ahead and what will be the Government’s response if the Crimea referendum goes ahead?

The European Council will also discuss the upcoming EU-Africa summit. I understand that topics for discussion include education and training, women and youth, legal and illegal migrant flows between both continents, ways to stimulate growth and create jobs, investing in peace and ways to enhance EU support for African capacities to manage security on the continent.

As with all developing countries the EU must focus on mutually beneficial and fair trade. Will the tax evasion and avoidance of EU based MNCs be discussed? The actions of these huge corporations have cost African countries billions in tax revenues. The amount is many multiples of what it receives in aid. Until these MNCs and their actions are held to account the fight against poverty and underdevelopment will continue to be undercut and held back.

I wish the Taoiseach well in the discussions on what is happening in Crimea and the Ukraine and other important issues such as climate change the direction in which Europe is going.

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