Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuireann sé alltacht agus iontas orm cuid de na ráitis atá déanta ag an Aire Airgeadais san Eoraip ar maidin maidir le muintir na Gréige agus é ag cur an mhilleáin ar na gnáth daoine ó thaobh na fiacha atá ar an tír sin.

I find quite flabbergasting the statements that have been made by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, to the eurozone Finance Ministers on the plight of the Greek people. In the past year or so, I have had the opportunity to visit Greece, Portugal and Spain and I have met people affected by the crisis at first hand. I met the women cleaners who were on strike outside the Ministry of Finance in Greece because of their situation. I met staff from the national broadcaster that was shut down in Greece because of the impact of the cutbacks and I have met people in Spain and Portugal in similar situations. The ordinary people in those countries are suffering badly and the fact our Government and Minister of Finance will not even enter into debate about how debt could be restructured across Europe is an absolute disgrace.

The Labour Party, in particular, as a party that stands for trade union rights etc., should stand up and say we need to have this debate. I believe the Seanad would be the ideal arena for us to look at the proposals that are being put forward by the progressive government in Greece. The least we could do, in solidarity with comrades across Europe, is to look at and debate the proposals to see if there is merit in them. If we come to the same conclusion as the Minister for Finance, so be it, but at least let us have a debate on them. The fact debate is being shut down and that our Government is going out to Europe and signalling the door is shut, without having had a debate, is a disgrace. We need to ensure this does not happen. I call for a debate on this issue in the Seanad. We have expertise in this House and have open debate on issues such as this. This is the least we can do for and on behalf of our comrades across Europe.