Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I assume the Taoiseach will not be joining the Anti-Austerity Alliance in sending heartiest congratulations to Syriza and to the millions of unemployed workers and oppressed people of Greece who have elected it to power. I make this assumption because of his lacklustre response to the election of the first anti-austerity government in Europe. His remarks about Europe drifting to populism puts him at odds once again with the working class people of this country who shouldered the debt burden he foisted on their shoulders and who are delighted to see that the debt issue is being placed centre stage once again. People wonder exactly whose side the Taoiseach is on.

The Taoiseach and his Government have been at pains to create a distance between Ireland and Greece. The Tánaiste was at it again last night on television. Rather than showing solidarity over the years with the other bullied pupils in the troika classroom, they joined in their mockery, with even the Minister for Finance making snide remarks about feta cheese two years ago. Why have they consistently lined up with the right-wing austerity governments of Europe rather than with the poor people of Greece who have been reduced to scavenging in dustbins and leftover fruit markets for food?

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