European Council: Statements 29 February 2012

I thank my colleague, Deputy Breen, for sharing time in this most important debate. Like other speakers, I compliment the Attorney General and the Government on reaching a clear decision without equivocation and deciding to hold a referendum not because a referendum is absolutely necessary, but because if there was even the slightest possibility of somebody bringing a constitutional challenge to the Supreme Court between now and the passing of legislation, it would be a disaster. I compliment all concerned as it is the correct way to go.
 
It also gives an opportunity to the people to recognise the progress over the past 11 months as a result of the work the Government has done. It may not be commonly known, and it certainly will not be promoted on the opposition benches, but €18.4 billion has been shaved off the indebtedness of this country in the past 11 months by way of negotiation and the tactics employed by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and various other Ministers. That is an amazing achievement in a very short space of time.
 
All the people who contacted my constituency office in the past 24 hours since this announcement have said they totally support the concept of holding a referendum and they will participate positively in the debate.
 
It also gives an opportunity to the negative people, the no-pay brigade, who run around telling everyone not to pay or comply because they do not have to and because it is an attack on our sovereignty. The only attack on our sovereignty is that we have overspent. Like many other European countries, we have got into debt. We have two options: either we work our way out of it or we fall down and say we are sorry but we cannot pay. I challenge any Member to tell me how a household or a company that has overspent and overborrowed can go into a financial institution, apologise for overspending and say that while it does not intend to repay the debt, it needs money to work in the future. I am not an economist and it is a long time since I was in business but if people can find an institution willing to lend money in those circumstances, we should all know about it.
 
The stability pact is something required of all European countries so that no one repeats the breaches of the Stability and Growth Pact, as some countries did to their advantage at particular times. No European country can go there again. Much hate has been generated towards the German people, Ministers and Government over the past 12 months. There has been finger-pointing. Whether we like it, the German people made many sacrifices over the past ten or 15 years. They took a considerable drop in standards of living and quality of life in order to achieve what they set out to do. It is true that they broke the Stability and Growth Pact, as did France and other countries, but they took a decrease in quality of life and standards of living. We took the opposite choice. It is great to see that the Irish people recognise and stand behind the Government in attempting to turn around the ship. That will be rewarded.
 
Something was said about the Government not doing enough to encourage investment. I hear chatter from the opposite side about stimulus packages. Will we ever learn one thing? We cannot have a stimulus package or economic expansion of any shape or form unless it is based on sound economic fundamentals. There were two oil-based recessions in the 1970s and there was a famous stimulus package here after one of them. The coalition Government at the time had put in place constructive measures to work our way out of it. In the general election campaign, a stimulus package was presented to the people. The theory was that putting more money in people’s pockets, abolishing rates and reducing car tax would ensure the consumer had more money to spend. Within 18 months, the country was broke. We cannot afford a repetition of that nonsense. The campaign pursued by the Government, although not easy, is the correct one. It is a challenge for the country to fulfil. We can act as an inspiration not only to ourselves, but to other people in Europe similarly affected.