James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy to have the opportunity to discuss some upcoming events within the European Union and matters relating to the Minister of State's Department. One of the most important things in the post-Covid world will be the financial response of the European Union and the eurozone to this crisis. After the 2008 international financial meltdown, we pursued a policy of extreme austerity for ordinary citizens across the Continent of Europe. This really hit home here in Ireland. We cannot afford to do that to another generation of young Irish people and young Europeans. It would be grossly unfair to a generation of individuals facing circumstances unlike any faced by any generation before them. I stress that message. I have a lot of faith in the Minister of State. I believe he is very clever and has exceptional skills from his time working and studying. I have every confidence he could relay that message to his European colleagues. We cannot afford for European policies in respect of the financial response to Covid-19 to force another generation of young Irish people to the departure gates. It would be an enormous failure on the part of this State and the part of the 27 member states of the European Union.

We have to remember the damage done to governments across the European Union when we pursued these policies. They caused a significant rise in very unstable political circumstances in what are normally very stable democracies. We saw the rise of the far right and the far left, which is obviously of extreme concern. Our financial response to the implications of Covid-19 is one of the single largest challenges the European bloc will face in the near future.

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