Refusal to hold referendum further undermines Ireland's negotiating ...
- Strong case set out for debt relief by Finance Committee in Berlin, undermined by Taoiseach?s comments in Davos
- Refusal to hold referendum further undermines Ireland?s negotiating position in seeking debt relief
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett, TD for the People Before Profit Alliance and Finance spokesperson for the United Left Alliance, has said that Taoiseach, Enda Kenny?s comments at last weeks Davos World Economic Forum and the government?s attempts to avoid a referendum on the proposed Eurocompac Treaty, had completely undermined the robust case for debt relief made by a cross-party delegation from the Dail Finance Committee during their visit to the German Bundestag in the same week.
Deputy Boyd Barrett, along with representatives of all the other party groups on the Dail Finance Committee, met with the Budgetary Committee of the Bundestag ? the most powerful parliamentary committee in the German Parliament. The Bundestag Budgetary Committee has significant oversight over the German budget. It is also the body that had seen parts of the Irish budget before the Irish parliament saw it, and is the body which is currently involved in scrutinizing drafts of the proposed Eurocompac Treaty on behalf of the Bundestag. The Finance Committee delegation made a strong case to the Bundestag that austerity was unjustly punishing ordinary Irish citizens, who bore no responsibility for the economic crisis, and was crippling the Irish economy. Deputy Boyd Barrett said also that the Bundestag committee members were particularly interested in the question of whether there would be a referendum on the Eurocompac Treaty in Ireland and that it was clear from this that such a possibility strengthened Ireland?s hand in seeking debt relief.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: ?The Taoiseach?s comments in Davos presented a perspective on the Irish economic crisis almost diametrically the opposite of that presented by an all-party delegation from the Dail?s finance committee to the German parliament, and completely undermined the strong case that we made for debt relief. All of us, regardless of our political differences, put strong arguments to the Bundestag budgetary committee about the injustice of ordinary Irish citizens paying for the illegitimate debts of the financial institutions, and on that basis called for debt relief. The Taoiseach?s comments were, therefore, not simply insulting to ordinary Irish citizens, they did a grave disservice to the efforts, even members of his own coalition were making in Berlin, to seek debt relief for Ireland.
Despite the major political differences that exist between us, a cross section of the parties in the Dail made the case that in Ireland there is a huge sense of justified anger about having to pay debts generated by the irresponsible gambling of financial institutions across Europe and the incompetence of political leaders. We explained that the austerity policies that resulted from this intolerable debt burden were causing immense suffering across Irish society and were seriously detrimental to efforts to restore growth and create jobs. Even government spokespeople were quite robust about the need to for relief or write-down of banking debt. The social democrats and leftist groups in the Bundestag were extremely sympathetic to the case we were making, but even the governing Christian Democrats were willing to acknowledge that the austerity was unfairly hitting citizens who had no responsibility for the financial and economic crash. The message across the board of the delegation was that it wasn?t ordinary citizens that caused the mess, it was the financial and political elites both at home and in Europe that had caused the crisis, and that steps should be taken to relieve people from an unjust debt burden and the resulting austerity.?
?Our arguments ? which were gaining a sympathetic hearing from across the German political spectrum ? were totally undermined by Enda Kenny?s comments that the Irish people were to blame for the crisis in Ireland. His comments have done a major disservice to the Irish public and even to members of his own coalition. It was also clear from our meetings in Berlin that the German government is very concerned about the possibility of a referendum in Ireland on the Eurocompac treaty. It was obvious from this, that we have leverage in Europe when we call for debt relief. But again, Enda Kenny?s insistence that he won?t hold a referendum unless he is legally forced to amounts to giving away all our bargaining chips when it comes to seeking debt relief and better deal from Europe. Enda Kenny simply could not be doing a worse job in representing the interests of ordinary Irish citizens than he has done over the last number of weeks. It gives a real insight into the disastrous bankruptcy of this government?s entire strategy when it comes to dealing with an unprecedented economic crisis.?
Article source: http://richardboydbarrett.ie/2012/01/30/refusal-to-hold-referendum-further-undermines-irelands-negotiating-position-in-seeking-debt-relief/
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