Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

This is an absolutely disastrous deal for Ireland. Ireland is one of the most heavily indebted nations on the planet. We currently have a higher debt per capitathan Greece. Our debt is well north of €200 billion, and after the next five years of the Covid-19 crisis, it is likely that will be added to significantly. It shocks me that these types of major decisions made in the EU are continuously made on the basis of our GDP figures. These are leprechaun figures, which grossly overestimate the level of wealth that exists in the State. In real terms we should be looking at debt per capitaor the debt-to-GNI ratio. On both metrics, Ireland is, in international and historical terms, massively indebted.

This is the context of the negotiations that have happened within the EU. The EU, historically, has been no friend to Ireland. During the bank crisis, it did enormous damage to Ireland. It forced a debt onto this country under terms that no other country was forced to endure. As a result, there is a massive legacy debt in this country and this debt is no small matter. It has an opportunity cost every day. The interest we are paying on that debt comes out of housing, healthcare, transport and infrastructure.

It is, on one level, incredible that the Taoiseach is not here, while the relevant Minister of State who is here is texting away. On the radio yesterday when that Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, was asked how much this deal would cost Ireland, he shrugged and said he did not know, as if his new role included the responsibility of signing a blank cheque. The cost of this deal, which Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party signed up to, will have a larger effect on Ireland than on any other European country. Irish citizens, per capita, will pay more than citizens in every other European country except Luxembourg. In the context of the debt mountain we are sitting on and the fact that we are on the precipice of a serious economic shock over the next number of years, for a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Green Party Government to go to Europe and to cost each citizen in the State roughly €3,500 is incredible.

I was listening to some of the Opposition voices in the House, such as the Social Democrats and the Labour Party, and the naivety with which they talk about this magical European solidarity that is said to exist within Europe. I imagine that in the capitals of the EU, if they are bothered listening to the debates happening in the Oireachtas, chuckles and smiles are rippling throughout Europe over the naivety that exists, even on the Opposition benches, in this country. The realpolitikthat exists in the EU is national self-interest. Until this country cops itself on with regard to the national self-interest, we will always be tipping the cap and in the ha'penny place relative to the rest of the EU when it comes to these types of negotiations. The decision the Taoiseach made in recent days has cost this country dearly, but that is not out of character for him. The previous time that he was a member of the Cabinet, his decisions cost this country dearly and we are still paying for them. Sometimes it seems that in such discussions, if a person criticises the EU, he or she is some kind of quasi-Brexiteer, but that is rubbish too. One can criticise the bad, poor and weak decisions that the Government makes when it comes to the EU and still support a partnership of democratic countries throughout the EU working together for mutual self-interest and for stronger economies. It is not the case that if one opposes the EU as it exists, one is a Brexiteer. Another type of Europe exists.

Unfortunately, we do not now have time to discuss what is happening to farmers and rural Ireland. It seems that discussions about farmers and rural Ireland happen just around election time. They are fitted in to a slot to make parties feel they are ticking the boxes for some of their constituents. Farmers in rural Ireland are the poor relations in Government thinking about the development of this country. As a result of the decisions that the Taoiseach has made, Ireland is poorer.

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