In a statement today, Richard Boyd Barrett TD said that he plans to interrogate Enda Kenny during Taoiseach’s questions in the dáil this afternoon, on whether he discussed the most recent evidence that austerity policies have failed during his recent meeting with Christine Lagarde.
According to Eurostat, debt in Eurozone countries has continued to rocket amid unprecedented budget cuts and tax increases. Ireland’s debt levels hit euro-era highs last year, twelve member states recorded a worsening in their government balance relative to GDP in 2012 compared with 2011, and the Eurozone sovereign debt overall rose to the highest percent on record – 90.6 percent of GDP. Meanwhile Eurozone unemployment levels have hit 12 percent – the highest in the history of the Eurozone.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: “The Taoiseach owes it to the people to answer some basic questions about the economic policies this government has pursued, especially now that those policies are being discredited left and right.”
“First, we had the IMF criticize the Eurozone’s austerity policies for being too aggressive, then we heard George Soros, America’s most successful investor, predicting that even Germany will enter into recession, and now José Manuel Barroso has said that the EU has reached its limit on austerity. The question is whether Mr. Kenny is taking note of these voices and addressing the issue with his EU counterparts.”
“Both the UK and France have lost their AAA credit rating prompting bond fund managers like Bill Gross of Pimco to criticize the EU’s strategy of cutting debt with severe austerity measures and admitting that these measures will stifle recovery.”
“Most of Europe is in a double dip recession – cuts have failed to stimulate growth and analysts say that unless there is radical policy change the EU could slip into a more serious depression.”
“People deserve to know whether the Taoiseach is listening to economists who predict the Eurozone’s recession will last until 2030 if we remain on this policy path, and they deserve to know what he plans to do about it.”