Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We were unable to find out the name of the woman who was seriously injured in the crash on the M50 yesterday, but I am sure we will find it out later. We wish her a speedy recovery. I do not underestimate the impact on her and I extend my sympathy, but in the wider context the road was closed for seven hours. Perhaps the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, will examine how the Garda, the National Roads Authority, NRA, tow trucks and so forth respond. This should not be a recurring situation. Other countries have motorways carrying heavy traffic into cities but they are not shut down for such long periods. While I extend my sympathy to the person who really bears the consequences of yesterday, we do not need a repeat of that situation.

I commend the Irish MEPs, Matt Carthy, Marian Harkin and Brian Hayes, for finally getting Mr. Draghi to answer questions about the Irish bailout and the problems that arose. The conditions that Mr. Draghi set, that only 15 minutes would be allowed for the debate, are unacceptable for the Irish parliamentary democracy, as was the conduct of Mr. Trichet, both at the banking inquiry and in saying to our Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, that if he burned the bondholders, "a bomb will go off in Dublin". These organisations must be made democratically accountable. The best description I have heard of the hearings is that Mr. Trichet and Mr. Draghi, inadvertently I presume, are recruiting agents for euroscepticism. Their contempt for elected representatives in the European Parliament and in this Parliament is unacceptable. They need to have manners put on them in the way they conduct their business.

The Single Supervisory Mechanism was finally put in place in November 2014, approximately 20 years after the euro started to create problems for the member states. The faults in the euro do not lie in the parliaments, the people or in regarding the Greeks as too lazy and so forth, but in the design faults in Frankfurt and Brussels. The people who are supposed to address those problems ought to have more cognisance of what is happening under their noses and cease this condescension towards the parliaments of the member states, unless they are really seeking to ensure that the United Kingdom will vote to leave. The conduct I saw at the hearings is unacceptable. I commend our MEPs for doing their best this morning.

I also regret that the chairman of the banking inquiry does not wish to meet them. Deputy Ciarán Lynch should have met the MEPs. They were trying to make up for a fault in the way in which we proceeded, but Marian Harkin, MEP, said the chairman refused to meet them. Our current relationships with Europe are at a most unsatisfactory level. It is about time some people at the Commission and in Frankfurt took their alienation of people throughout the European Union, including in Greece, Portugal and Italy, much more seriously.