Tá mé fíor-bhuíoch don fhochoiste as ucht seans a thabhairt dom teacht anseo chun caint ar son Sinn Féin ar an gconradh seo. I thank the sub-committee for the opportunity to speak on the treaty and the reaction of Irish society to it. We will only know the reaction and the response of Irish citizens when the referendum vote takes place. Creideann Sinn Féin gur chóir d'Éireann bheith san Aontas Eorpach. Tá cabhair ár bpáirtnéirí Eorpacha riachtanach chun na dúshláin atá os ár gcomhair amach a shárú. Theip ar Rialtas Fine Gael agus Páirtí an Lucht Oibre seasamh suas ar son na hÉireann san Eoraip tríd an chonradh déine a bhaineann leis an ngéarchéim i limistéar an euro a dhiúltú.
One can get a sense of the public opposition to the Government's austerity policies, because this is essentially an austerity treaty, from the fact that almost 50% of households refused to sign up to the household charge, many others who paid the charge did so under duress and said so, opposition to septic tank and water meter charges, and the succession of opinion polls which give a snapshot of public anger and dissatisfaction with the Government austerity policies. All the members are public representatives. Like you, everyday I hear from constituents of the hardships that austerity is causing. Small businesses cannot get credit from the banks even though we are supposed to own the banks. In my constituency in Dundalk and Drogheda, funding for women's centres to help women victims of domestic violence has been cut. Schools across Louth and Meath face difficulties in respect of funding for new school building projects. Children are being taught in buildings which are not fit for purpose or prefabs and in common with schools across the State, very dedicated teaching staff, committed parents and local communities are 100% behind them. What they do not have is a Minister for Education and Skills who is prepared to demand the resources needed to create a first class teaching environment. That is not acceptable and is a result of austerity.
The health service is also in crisis, as members will see in their constituencies. Louth County Council is being stripped of essential services, there is an absence of resources in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and patients on trolleys. Yesterday there were 32 citizens on trolleys in Drogheda hospital. Citizens and patients in County Louth, like citizens in every other part of the State, are being treated in a second class health service which is underfunded as a result of austerity. That is also unacceptable.
One can visit public nursing homes such as St. Joseph's Hospital in Ardee and the Cottage Hospital Drogheda, where elderly citizens end up as the axe falls on them. I am bemused that Government Deputies and all Deputies who are all decent people - I know that from having met many of you - talk about meetings with the Health Service Executive and other agencies, complain about the unfairness and injustice and then return to the House and vote for the policies which are creating the problems. Let me say clearly that the Government's austerity policies are not working. This austerity treaty, in Sinn Féin's view, will not work. Tá sé seo ag déanamh cúrsaí níos measa do theaghlaigh atá ag obair ar fud an Stáit. All of these cuts to public services, including cuts to DEIS schools, slashing of school guidance counsellors, attacks on rural communities, imposition of cuts to essential community employment - this is all the stuff of austerity; it is what it is about. The effect of the new stealth taxes, such as the septic tank and household charges, and the dreadful social consequences of decisions taken by Fine Gael and the Labour Party, supported by Fianna Fáil, are to be found in the number of citizens unemployed and the thousands of our young people who are emigrating. Somebody told me it is one person every nine minutes. What is happening is crazy in regard to mortgages, people struggling to pay rent, household bills and small businesses, particularly in small villages and towns in rural Ireland. Members can go up any main street and see the small businesses and shops closing down. We have heard the Government's decision in recent times on water charges, which is another regressive tax that will have a very negative impact on disadvantaged and low and middle income families.
That is the context of this economic crisis. It is the substance of austerity and is what this treaty is about - more of the same. We need to be very mindful of the social consequences which will flow from all of this.
What I find interesting, as a relative newcomer to the Dáil, is that I do not hear anybody standing up and arguing for austerity. Thatcher got up and argued for austerity. Reagan got up and argued for austerity. People here do not do it - they blame other people, they blame Fianna Fáil, they say you have no other option, they say there is no alternative. It would be very refreshing to see the Government actively promoting and explaining its position in the course of this referendum campaign.
In fairness to Fine Gael, this is in keeping with its right wing and conservative ideology because, like other conservative parties in the European Union, its core values do not include social guarantees, are not about equality and are not about citizens' rights. It does not place any value in terms of austerity on community solidarity, equality and protecting the weak and vulnerable. Fine Gael has a neoliberal agenda which believes in austerity and cuts to public services, in privatisation and bank bailouts and in protection for golden circles. It is that ideology which stripped away regulations on the banks and on businesses and which created the economic crisis in the first instance. For its part, the Labour Party is supposed to be guided by different core values but it imposes austerity which is hurting the very people it claims to represent.
In my view, the support for the austerity treaty from the Government benches is rooted in their ideological view of the world and in their political core values. Sinn Féin's approach to austerity policies and this treaty is rooted in our republican core values. We believe the economy should serve the people. We believe in citizenship and in a Republic in which citizens have rights - the right to a job, to a home, to universal access to a decent standard of education and health care, to live in a safe environment and to equality for the Irish language. We do not have that Republic at this time, and we are for an entirely new Republic which is accessible, responsive and inclusive. These are our core values.
We have looked at the treaty closely and we have concluded that, like the austerity policies of the Government, it is bad for Irish citizens, bad for Europe and is failing. We are not alone in believing this. The Mandate, TEEU and UNITE trade unions all call for a "No" vote, while SIPTU demands a €10 billion jobs package or it will vote "No". Across the EU, there is growing opposition to the treaty. European trade union confederations are against the austerity treaty, the Dutch Government has just collapsed and the Socialist candidate in the French presidential election wants to renegotiate the treaty. The fact is the crisis in the EU is part of a deeper crisis within international capitalism and this treaty is a child of European conservative Governments. It is their strategy for tackling this crisis. However, they plan to do so - the treaty is very clear about this - in a way that favours big business and the wealthy and protects the interests of the larger states. That is, in fairness, what conservative, right wing parties and Governments do, and that is what this Government is doing.
We are having a referendum, which is a good thing. The Government did not want the referendum. It sought and secured changes to the final draft of the treaty in an attempt to avoid it. The Government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party has, thus far, joined with Fianna Fáil in trying to frighten people into voting "Yes". The claim has been made that this vote is about staying in or leaving the eurozone or the EU, but that is not true. Ireland's position - this State's position - as a member of the eurozone is secure no matter what position we take on the austerity treaty. The Government parties and Fianna Fáil are trying to suggest that if we do not sign up to this treaty, we will not get access to emergency funding. This is complete nonsense. The simple fact is that this is not a done deal, and they must know this. If the ESM is to come into law, it has to go into the EU treaties under Article 136 and all 27 member states, including Ireland, have to agree to this, so it is over to the Government as to whether this is brought in or not. That decision is very firmly in the hands of Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Is anybody seriously suggesting that the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, or the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, intend to sign up to something that would jeopardise access to emergency funding, if the State needs it? For all that I might disagree with them, I do not think they are likely to do that or to be allowed to do it.
This sort of approach to the campaign thus far - I know it is early days - reflects the same type of approach that was taken during the Lisbon treaty campaign, namely, that passing that treaty would create jobs. There were all sorts of promises yet, since then, 170,000 jobs have been lost. What I want to hear is the Government coming forward with positive reasons for people to support the austerity treaty. The fact is it cannot find one single positive reason for it. Austerity does not work. The reason I took the committee members through this is in order to remind them, in case we in this bubble forget, that this is austerity as we know it. Why would we want more of it?
The treaty will also hand over significant control of fiscal and budgetary matters to unelected EU officials. Whatever view any citizen takes of this Government or any other Government, at least, by virtue of the vote, we can re-elect a Government or we can get rid of it, and we can make it democratically accountable at elections. We cannot do this with EU officials, who are not elected by Irish citizens and cannot be held accountable by them. Moreover, if the "Yes" side has its way, the new 0.5% of GDP structural deficit provision of this treaty will constitutionally lock this and future Governments into austerity policies. If a future Government were to offer a different path, this treaty gives the European Court of Justice the power to impose fines of up to €160 million. So much for sovereignty and so much for the Taoiseach's claim that he wants to be a Taoiseach who retrieves Ireland's economic sovereignty.
Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil ask us how we would pay for running the State in the event that their bailout scheme fails. The real question is how is the Government going to pay for anything. The treaty would mean an additional €6 billion in cuts and taxes, which is on top of the €8 billion in cuts over the next three years for the troika deal and the billions of euro that will be paid to Anglo and unsecured bondholders. To look at the figures, in 2008 the Exchequer deficit was €12 billion and in 2011 it was €24.9 billion, which includes €7 billion in bank recapitalisation and €3 billion for the promissory note, and all of that after six austerity budgets and €24.6 billion in cuts and a host of new charges. There are almost 500,000 on the live register, thousands are emigrating and the domestic economy is stagnant, yet they want to take more and more money out of the economy and underwrite this in the Constitution. We have argued consistently that there are alternatives. The focus must shift to investment, growth and job creation. The core difference between Sinn Féin and others is that we believe in reducing the deficit. We have put forward costed proposals to reduce it by 3.5%. We have also argued for getting rid of waste and ensuring things are run properly. In particular, we have argued the need for a jobs stimulus package on the basis that one cannot cut one's way out of a recession, one must generate growth. One must stimulate the economy, get people back to work and start the circle of economic solvency in communities upwards. We also argue for protecting public services and those on low and middle incomes. We have put across in numerous budget submissions how we would close the deficit, fund the State, pay the wages of nurses, teachers and gardaí, to paraphrase the Taoiseach, and, from our perspective, how we would provide decent front-line services. Sinn Féin would not pay the promissory note. We would support those on low and middle incomes. We would introduce a third tax rate and a wealth tax. We would produce savings by capping public sector salaries at €100,000. Critically, we would invest to ensure job creation and growth. We would not sign up to a treaty that would drive the country deeper into recession.
