Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak today on Europe Day. I wish I were jumping for joy and celebrating, but unfortunately I am not. As a campaigner when I was a buachaill óg or fear óg back in 1973, I campaigned looking for a "Yes" vote and I supported it. We joined and we had many benefits. Indeed, part of the slogan for the 1972 referendum on membership was regarding a so-called key guarantee that there would be benefits for farmers. We have had many for farmers and I would not or could not deny that. It has been the case in many other areas as well.

However, fishing, for instance has been completely decimated. Our sugar beet industry has disappeared. We are under enormous threat with the whole green agenda and we are being pushed by Europe. The attack on farmers, which I raise here today, is appalling also.

When it came to the so-called bailout, when we ran into financial difficulties, I lost an awful lot of respect for our European so-called friends. With friends like those, who needs enemies? They actually forced the Government, and I was a backbencher then, sitting towards the back of where the Minister of State is sitting. The Minister of State is down the front, but I was never down there. I voted for the bank guarantee, which was the biggest political mistake I ever made in my whole life, because we were under pressure. I remember discussing it that day with the then Minister for Finance, the late Deputy Brian Lenihan. Now, the Minister for Finance is Deputy Michael McGrath. We did our best, but I call the so-called bailout a clean out. That is what it was. The ECB, having allowed German, French and many other banks and bondholders to invest huge money in this country, they abandoned us. They forced us to bail them out, even though they had their own insurance policies which were never touched. They were literally laughing all the way to the bank and we were picking up the pieces.

As I said, that was a costly experience, with the fact we now have diminished rights over there. We go over there and we seem to be lapdogs and do all the things that are needed and that are good. We say, "Yes, sir", "Aye, sir", "Three bags full, sir." That is what I see coming back from Europe. We come back with very bad deals. Deputy Collins will speak more strongly about the fishing industry, which has been wiped out and decommissioned. We are paying people to dismantle it, as we did with the sugar factories. We had four sugar factories and now we have none. We are importing sugar from all kinds of countries at the moment, as we are importing peat, wood chip and everything else. It is a sheer act of madness and it is totally unacceptable.

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