David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

Logic dictates that if one opposed section 2, one would also oppose section 3, unless one was convinced by the Minister of State's arguments, which we were not. I will make some general points on the ESM and respond to the Minister of State's contribution in which he asked for an alternative. It is important to spell out the alternative, or at least the proposition Sinn Féin is putting forward. First, we must look at what is before us. The ESM is being presented as a firewall. We will take money from countries that are broke and put it into the ESM. That mechanism will provide cash, first, to states that need it because they are in a deficit situation and, second, to banks because they need to be recapitalised. The State will then become a conduit for that. The backdrop to all of this is the continuation of the issues I mentioned previously, which are massive unemployment, the difficulties families are experiencing and the pressures on banks.

Sinn Féin advocates the adoption of a different deficit reduction strategy. I think the Minister of State would accept that Sinn Féin, consistently over a number of years, has put forward a set of budgetary proposals that are different from his own. What we want is a different way of reducing the deficit. We accept the need to reduce our deficit in an appropriate fashion that does not have a deflationary impact on our economy. The previous Government put in place a four year strategy that became a five year deficit reduction strategy. That is the current bailout situation we are in. For starters, we wanted it over a longer time period but we would also have gone about it in a different way in that we would not have targeted low income families and people on welfare. We would have tried to get revenue in from higher earners, introduced a third rate of tax, abolished tax exemptions and shelters, capped pay at €100,000 and all of the proposals we put forward ad nauseam in this House whenever we are asked for an alternative. We would introduce a different deficit reduction strategy and budgetary strategy from that followed by the Government. From the outset we have consistently said we need to grow the economy. If the difference between what one takes in and what one spends is a specific amount, let us say €14 billion or €15 billion, and the economy does not grow, the only way to reduce that is through cuts and austerity.