David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

No small to medium-sized business would operate under the strict draconian rules under which the Government is being asked to operate, whereby the amount a member state can borrow ability is limited to the extent that it is almost impossible to borrow because of the strict rules being put into law. Businesses borrow to invest to grow the business and create jobs. Economies and states borrow to grow the economy.

We are putting in place a one-size-fits-all approach across the EU which will not work because we are not dealing with the real problems. The real problem in Ireland is the unsustainable level of debt, according to the IMF. We do not have a strategy for growth. We cannot continue with the cuts and austerity measures if we do not have counter measures to grow the economy. The treaty will limit the ability of the economy to grow. It is important to have a factual and honest debate. My interpretation of the treaty is that we will lock ourselves into tight draconian rules for decades, which is not in the best interests of the people.

Let us recall what caused the crash in Ireland. Many say that if the treaty is passed, it will prevent another property bubble, a financial bubble and the Celtic tiger happening again. Essentially, the treaty prevents states borrowing to invest and puts in place strict parameters on how countries can address their fiscal budgetary and economic affairs. During the Celtic tiger years, we had property and construction bubbles and surpluses and did not borrow large sums of money to pay for day-to-day spending. The property and financial crash followed on from excessive lending by the banks. They were borrowing money from bondholders to lend to developers who were speculating. The whole system collapsed like a house of cards. As a consequence, our public finances collapsed because they were overly dependent on construction, consumption and the property bubble. That is the reason we had to borrow, not because we borrowed excessively during the boom years. Our public finances collapsed for entirely different reasons and the EU fiscal compact treaty will not deal with that issue. No sooner had the ink dried on the treaty signed by EU leaders than a right wing conservative Prime Minister in Spain who was not prepared to accept the terms of the treaty opted out.