Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I will say that again. This programme is based, as it says in the document, "on our commitment to meeting in full the domestic and EU Fiscal rules". The programme for Government is, therefore, based on the fiscal treaty, which totally concedes Irish sovereignty over vital national affairs and flies in the face of the 1916 Proclamation in its centenary year.

This programme for Government continues the failed policies of the previous Fine Gael-Labour Government and, indeed, the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Government in the new Dáil. It means a continuation of austerity, it means agreeing to continue to send €7 billion in interest repayments out of this country every year to pay off bondholders and banks and it means continued cuts in order to meet the structural deficit under the fiscal treaty and to meet the new debt-to-GDP ratio of less than 60%. It also means continuing the scandal of the lowest 10% of earners in our society paying a higher percentage of their income in tax than the wealthiest 10%. That is an absolute scandal and it is continued in this programme for Government. It means continued austerity for low and middle-income families but, conversely, it means continued recovery for the rich and powerful, the same people who now have assets worth €45 billion in excess of their value during the peak boom period. It means recovery for the 300 very wealthy people who increased their wealth from €50 billion in 2011 to €84 billion this year.

As a consequence of all that, there is not sufficient funding to seriously tackle the housing crisis, nor is there sufficient funding to tackle the health and hospital chaos and all the other areas in respect of which there is significant pressure. Worse still, the Department of Finance and the Central Bank have warned about the possibility of external shocks. That might mean an end to or a reduction in growth. If that happened, this programme for Government would lead to new, increased and worse cuts. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independents are sleepwalking the Irish people into supporting a deal and a fiscal treaty that is absolutely dangerous.

However meritorious individual concessions may be, they pale into insignificance in comparison to the continuing economic and social damage done by the last two Governments - and by this future Government - in complying with the fiscal treaty. I believe this treaty must be renegotiated. It has an absolute stranglehold on every family in the State. Under the deal the new Government would come into the House to certify that a financial emergency continues to exist. This will enable the Government to confiscate private property; the private property of the little people - people who have made contributions to pensions to provide for their retirement. The very same Government is refusing to certify that a housing emergency exists in case that upsets the vulture funds and the big landlords. Therefore it is not surprising the deal does not commit to an emergency housing situation and the halting of evictions. This deal also continues the situation whereby families are being evicted by this Government and the banks it owns. That process will continue under this Government: it is a scandal and it must be stopped. It only requires the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance to instruct the banks, which are owned by the Irish people, to stop the evictions. No legislation would be necessary. The incoming Government should and must do that immediately or it will not just be Fine Gael, but also Fianna Fáil and the supporting Independents who will be blamed for every eviction, and rightly so.

I conclude by referring to a very well attended meeting in Portlaoise last Saturday where families who are threatened with eviction gave the Government six weeks to stop evictions and to put a moratorium on evictions. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents should take stock of that situation and stop these evictions once and for all.

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