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

If the Taoiseach wants to respect and help his Greek colleagues and if his words of sympathy and solidarity with the Greek people mean anything, he should withdraw the threats. He should be the leader of a European country that says, "We do not believe that if the Greek people vote "No", they should be forced out of the eurozone, if that is not their wish." I believe all this talk about the Taoiseach and other European leaders being interested in negotiations is not in good faith. What happened at the negotiations? A deal was put on the table on a take-it-or-leave-it basis in the knowledge that Syriza as a whole would not be able to take it. Yesterday Mr. Paul Krugman wrote that it was, deliberately, an offer Syriza could not accept because at the same time it was negotiating with the leaders of New Democracy and Potami, The River. What the European leaders wanted was a silent coup in Greece to replace the government with something more acceptable. When a referendum was announced, however, all of a sudden they were in favour of entering negotiations again. They even raised the question of debt relief, which had been off the table. Mr. Tsipras wrote to the Taoiseach and others, saying, "Okay, let us postpone the ending of the second programme until after the referendum so that we can have negotiations." However, everyone said "No". Mr. Tsipras wrote yesterday and again today, saying he wanted a third programme. However, Chancellor Merkel replied, "No, we will not have negotiations until after the referendum." That is because they want Syriza to be defeated in the referendum to get rid of the problematic issue of democracy and replace it with a government that will do exactly what they want.

The role of the Irish Government in all of this has been absolutely shameful. It is being used as a stick with which to beat the people of Greece and Ireland and it does so consciously against the interests of people here. It is shameful that today the Ballyhea bondholder bailout protestors are in Brussels making a case for a debt write-down for the Irish people. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach is saying nobody needs a debt write-down, that everyone should pay their debts, unless they are among the richest people in the country.

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