Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday the President of the European Parliament and Angela Merkel made the same intervention. The reason they are so scared of democracy is because austerity has failed to achieve its stated aims of restoring growth and reducing debt. It has shrunk the Greek economy by one quarter and ballooned its debt to 180% of GDP. The IMF admits that the deal put on the table on a take it or leave it basis would have resulted in unsustainable debt, even with economic growth of 4%. Austerity has no popular legitimacy because it has exposed what happened to the money that went to Greece. Less than 10% of the money went into the Greek economy, with the rest going to bail out the banking system, the German and French banks and the major bondholders. That is the real purpose of austerity. The hope is that the tyranny of the troika, the financial terrorism of the ECB and the bullying by Europe's leaders will force people to vote "Yes". The Irish Government's role in this mob story is that of Fredo Corleone, meekly doing what it is told to do and enthusiastically allowing itself to be used as a stick to beat the Greek people. Does the Taoiseach agree that the bullying and the threats should stop and that the Greek people should be free to make their decision on Sunday about the austerity deal? Will he withdraw the threats he repeated today about kicking them out of the eurozone if they make the wrong decision?

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