mr president yesterday we voted on the permanent stability mechanism and we flunked it
amendment thirty-three which would have given the fund the ability to purchase bonds on the secondary markets was withdrawn
the parliament like the european council up to now refused to take the hard decisions
yes they are hard decisions but these decisions will determine the future or the failure of the euro zone
our heads are in the sand like the proverbial ostrich
we do not just have a currency crisis we have a banking crisis and we have a sovereign debt crisis
and yet we persist in putting sticking plaster on deep wounds
my own country ireland is shouldering intolerable debt all because german french irish british and other banks along with lax regulation and non-existent supervision acted like casinos
bad debt has become citizens debt
i will not say sovereign debt it is citizens debt
all of this happened under the noses of the ecb with interest rates that were totally inappropriate
irish citizens are expected to deal with all of this
nobody is prepared to face reality
the debt is unsustainable
we have been trying to buy time with bailouts
what we need is major restructuring
