Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I concur with everything Senator Coghlan said. Fianna Fáil is a pro-EU party and is 100% supportive of the fiscal treaty and the Government's position on it. I am a convinced europhile. As a tiny country on the periphery of Europe and at the edge of the Atlantic with a population of 4.5 million, it is critical for our continued economic development that we fully participate in the European Union and eurozone. Since the 1970s, Ireland has attracted multinational investment, primarily from the United States, because we have access to a substantial European market. Recent enlargement has increased the population of the EU to almost 500 million. Being the only English speaking country in the eurozone provides Ireland with a major competitive asset.

The vision of the founders of the European Union has been delivered. Since its foundation, we have had political stability and peaceful relationships between two of the key protagonists in European wars, France and Germany. While Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy are fiercely criticised, they work together and are serious about their business. Fianna Fáil is fully behind the treaty.

The treaty offers some enhancement with respect to the Stability and Growth Pact rules to prevent a recurrence of the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis. Putting in place a credible commitment to responsible budgeting will keep bond yields low and unlock credit availability for investment in job creation.

As the Cathaoirleach is aware, I have called for credit to be freed up for companies on numerous occasions. As I indicated on the Order of Business this morning, I do not understand the complacency of Government Senators in the face of the current crisis and absence of liquidity in the economy. Companies can only grow their business and create employment if they have access to cash. The most recent figures from ISME are dire. Claims by the Irish Banking Federation and various banks that businesses are securing loans are untrue. I am very disappointed that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, believes what the banks are saying and does not believe what ISME which represents small and medium businesses are telling him. If the banks give loans, they attach incredible collateral requirements. On the latest requirement about which I heard yesterday, a small businessman who had been dealing with his bank for 25 years was asked for a copy of his passport. His company employs about six workers. It has kept going through thick and thin and having survived the recession, it is farcical that the bank asked for the passport of the man in question. I look forward to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, being in the House next week when I can ask him what he is doing about getting the banks to deliver. The people have bailed them out and now they are bluffing the Government.

This is not an austerity treaty, as my Sinn Féin colleagues claim. It is totally incorrect to suggest budgetary correction is being imposed by external official lenders and could be avoided if the country retained the ability to borrow in the markets. Without the support of the official lenders, the expenditure cuts and tax increases would have been accelerated. In the next few years there will, unfortunately, be more expenditure cuts and tax increases.

The fiscal compact treaty has been designed as a tighter set of budgetary rules to improve the Stability and Growth Pact which has been much infringed upon and which came into effect following the signing of the Maastricht treaty. It aims to enshrine German-style discipline across Europe, with which I totally concur, with states committing to strive for a balanced budget, with almost automatic punishments if they stray from the path of fiscal rectitude. While there is very little enthusiasm for the initiative outside Germany, for months Chancellor Merkel has been insisting that a new pact is required to anchor a more sustainable fiscal culture in the law of member states. The Czech Republic joined Britain in staying outside the treaty and Britain has only stayed outside it for narrow-minded nationalistic reasons, but the other 24 member states have agreed to participate in it. As a result, it will be an international agreement operating outside the framework of EU law.

Germany is a role model. I started a company during the last recession solely to create employment - that was my agenda, it was not to make money. In the business I gained satisfaction by seeing a person get a job. One could see the physical and mental transformation in a human being on getting a job as there is nothing more awful than being unemployed. It breaks my heart, therefore, that the Government believes what the banks are telling it. If the banks released money into the economy, it would give people hope. One man queuing outside the RDS, when interviewed last week, said there was no hope, that he had a small business and wanted to stay here but could not because people were not being given any hope, no money was available and families were packing up and leaving, which is our loss. I wish the Government every success in seeking to have the treaty passed.