Sean Barrett (Independent)

Mindful of the Taoiseach's meeting with Chancellor Merkel today, I seek a full debate on the euro and its role in our current economic difficulties. It is necessary to have this discussion because the drift in Europe is towards the transfer of yet more powers from the nation states to the centre. Many of the problems of the euro were caused by people at the centre, by not having any exit mechanism, the loss of the exchange rate as an instrument of economic policy and the lack of a mechanism to deal with vast capital flows, such as flowed into the Irish banking system and destroyed our property market. We did not have a proper debate when we joined the first time around and many of the faults we have now encountered have their origins in Brussels. We need a debate and analysis of that. In particular, we should resist any idea that Europe should be organised by technocrats rather than by elected politicians. There are sinister elements in that a failed currency is now seeking to extract even more powers from nation states and elected parliaments.