Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I listened to the Tánaiste yesterday evening, I noted with interest how all of this is being presented. It is clear that a great deal of work has been done in the area of spin in recent times. It was amazing to hear the Tánaiste say that the way out of "poverty is fairly-paid work". While that is true, the problem we have is that work is less well paid than it used to be. Since 2008, which is almost seven years ago, many people have lost good well-paid jobs. Now we are seeing numbers increasing again, but the jobs in question are predominantly low-paid and have poor working conditions. Many people have zero-hours contract arrangements.

Throughout this episode, certain people have refused to allow a good crisis to go to waste. When the crisis hit in 2007-08, people involved in economic philosophy at the time were adamant that this was probably the death of neoliberalism. In fact, neoliberalism has probably never been as rampant. Whether the Tánaiste likes it or not, the Labour Party has signed up to a neoliberal philosophy. It is frightening because it has undermined living conditions and made life more difficult for an incredible number of people in Ireland. I would say over half the people of Ireland now find it difficult to pay their bills at the end of the month. I do not think that could have been said at any previous time in my lifetime. It was not true then, but it is true today. Not only has life become more difficult for the less well-off - life was never easy for them - but we now have a new poverty, in so far as many people who were traditionally regarded as middle class have found themselves in a very difficult place.

It is interesting to hear the statistics and analysis of Mr. Michael Taft, which is in big contrast to the Government, on the serious level of child poverty and material deprivation and how we compare with other European countries. We are struggling to look well against them. We must listen to Ministers telling us we have the fastest growing economy in Europe but that does not mean a lot of to most people if they are struggling to pay bills and life is more difficult for them. Life is so difficult for so many people.

People felt that the reason banks were getting so much money was to deal with the fact that a whole lot of people could not possibly pay back the money they owed on property because they had paid too much for it at the wrong time. They found themselves in crazy negative equity. As things have transpired, the banks are pursuing people and forcing them to downsize and forcing them out of their homes. It is a race to the bottom and there is no protection for people.

The banks are still too big to fail and too big for the Government to tell them what to do. We cannot tell them what to do. Is that a healthy situation and is it fair to the people of Ireland, who will pay for the bank bailout for many years? I am not saying it was all the fault of this Government but the previous Government was no different. A bailout was organised and the taxpayer and the ordinary citizens are paying for it. What happens? The banks now turn around and kick people in the teeth. It is too bad.

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