In contrast to the taxpayer funded government website, the austeritytreaty.ie website gives the true story about the impact of this Treaty on people’s lives. In a series of short videos, the key features of the Treaty such as the austerity required and the bondholder pay outs it demands are explained. The website also answers the scaremongering arguments of the government, and explains in detail how the blackmail of the government is in fact a false threat.

The website also turns attention to the crucial democratic arguments against this Treaty. It explains how the treaty gives yet more powers to the unelected and unaccountable European Commission and enables countries in ‘Excessive Deficit Procedures’ to be effectively placed into administration with their budgets written by the Commission and Council. It outlines how  writing the structural deficit target into law is an attempt to remove people’s right to choose an alternative to austerity policies.

Also available to buy on the website is the new pamphlet from Paul Murphy MEP,  ‘Austerity Treaty explained: how it undermines democracy & institutionalises austerity’. This has already sold extremely well at public meetings right across the country. According to Paul Murphy “there is a thirst out there for an explanation of what this Treaty will mean for people’s lives and a strong distrust of the government’s arguments. I have spoken at a number of meetings of the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes about this Treaty in the last week and everywhere, large number of anti-household tax activists are signing up to actively campaign against this Treaty for the next three weeks”.

The website also provides a ‘twibbon’ badge for your facebook or twitter profile pic and a cover photo image for on facebook.

In Holland the Dutch government fell because of the austerity it was supposed to implement, and the passing of the Austerity Treaty is now called into question there. In France, the winner of the presidential race, Francois Hollande has stated that the treaty as it currently stands will not be passed. In Italy, the biggest party in the Italian government, PDL, has called for the Treaty to be amended.

The Greek election results represent a failure of austerity. The two main establishment parties New Democracy and PASOK have been smashed electorally because of their implementaion of the Troika programme. PASOK fell behind Syriza, a coalition of left parties opposed to the austerity agenda. There is a lesson here for Fine Gael and Labour – that this is the future that will confront them!

Michael Noonan, though, has managed to take the wrong lessons from this. He commented on the soup kitchens which have been set up to feed some of the population who have been driven into poverty by the vicious austerity policies that have been implemented – someow he concluded that this was a warning for the Irish people to quietly accept the medicine of austerity which is killing the patient! There are lessons to be learnt from Greece but tis is not one of them.

The lesson to be learnt is that it is ordinary people who will be sacrificed in the name of austerity. The second ‘bailout’ that the government have put forward as an ‘insurance policy’ is no such thing. The Greek people have experienced what a second ‘bailout’ looks like and the results have been disasterous.

These events present Ireland with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow against the Austerity Treaty by voting ‘No’ in massive numbers on May 31st. This should be seen as part of a European-wide rejection of austrity and a step in the fight back against austerity, and to fight for a different type of Europe that puts the interests of the millions before the millionaires.

The core message of our campaign is that the European political, financial and business establishment want to enshrine in law across Europe the type of policy response, austerity, that has already failed across Europe.

The structural deficit target spelt out in the treaty will mean over six billion in extra cuts and impositions on top of the over eight billion already planned.

The debt reduction target of 60% GDP in the era of austerity can only be met by more cuts and taxes as can growth will be virtually ruled out when you have simultaneous cuts being implemented across Europe.

Besides the key economic questions the issue of democracy will be a key battleground in this referendum campaign. The levels of oversight this treaty gives the unelected EU Commission and the powers invested in the EU to put countries in administration if they do not adhere to the targets spelt out is profoundly anti-democratic.

The net effect of this treaty is to not just make socialist policies illegal but to render illegal Keynesian and mildly progressive social democratic policies. This is understood by Keynesian economists and soft left politicians and political parties across Europe who oppose this treaty. The fact our Labour Party supports it regardless demonstrates again how far in the capitalist camp they are rooted.

Part of the fear tactic on the part of the Yes side consists of trying to create the impression that by voting No the Irish will be isolated. We take a different view and it’s a view that is being increasingly understood by voters. The Irish people have already joined the massive movement against austerity by boycotting the household charge. At meetings the lenght of the country people have made the link between the household charge and this Austerity Treaty. People see that this treaty will mean more taxation like the household charge and water taxes.

A No vote in Ireland will provide a massive fillip to the real opposition to this treaty that exists across Europe and could prove to be the first successful continent wide response by workers to the pro-bondholder agenda of the EU political establishment.

Sean Kelly wheels out the scare tactics that have become the stock in trade of the government – that Ireland will be excluded from the ESM and that Ireland will be left isolated.He even goes so far as to call it a ‘Propserity Treaty’!

Paul Murphy challenges these arguments by highlighting the ‘blackmail clause’ that would cut any country who did not ratify the austerity treaty from funding , the role the government had in consenting for in its inclusion, and the power the government has to block this. This treaty will institutionalise austerity across Europe, leading to higher unemployment and the cutting of living standards.

The debate can be viewed here

In past referenda, ICTU have been able to point to social aspects of treaties, for example in the Lisbon debates they could point to the aspirations contained in the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a reason to support it. However, on this occasion there is no social aspect to the Austerity Treaty. This treaty is purely economic and seeks to enshrine in law austerity, the repayment of the debts of private banks and bondholders and to use these measures to further undermine democracy by giving key economic power making decisions to the unelected E.U. Commission and Council. That ICTU couldn’t support it signifies what a high price will be paid by workers and the unemployed in Ireland if this treaty is passed.eferenda

ICTU have abdicated their position of leadership by not calling for a ‘No’ vote. The rejection of this treaty will be a strike against the austerity agenda. ICTU could have taken a key leadership position in this campaign and used it as a basis upon which to launch a massive fightback against the failed austerity policies that are costing jobs in the economy and slashing living standards as a whole in Ireland and across Europe. A mass campaign of opposition is vital to defeat austerity, ICTU has the potential to be able to mobilise through protests and strikes hundreds of thousands of workers – yet they have failed to do so.

The Socialist Party and the United Left Alliance will launch a massive campaign across the country to encourage people to reject this Austerit Treaty and to launch a wider fightback against the austerity agenda.

To get involved in the Socialist Party or United Left Alliance campaign please contact: info@paulmurphymep.eu

The IMF is unelected and unaccountable body which is dedicated to neo-liberalism. Across the globe, any country they have put into one of their ‘programmes’ has resulted in the decimation of the living standards of workers and the unemployed, attacks on the welfare state and mass whole-sale privatisations of public services.

They should not try to interfere in the democratic process during this referendum. Their statements are an attempt to influence the debate in Ireland so that a Yes vote to enshrine in law austerity, neo-liberalism and bondholder bailouts.

Together with the E.U. Commission and the ECB, the IMF have been at the heart of driving the austerity which has been inflicted on Ireland over the last number of years. They are no friend or partner to Irish workers, the unemployed or young people. They have been to the fore in calling for the sale of state assets at knock-down prices and for a reduction in state spending which will cause most hardship for the people who rely on these services.

The IMF should stay out of this referendum debate. A massive No vote is needed to strike a blow against the austerity policies of the Troika and European establishment. A yes vote will result in over €5.7 billion worth of further cuts on top of the €8.6 billion already planned. It will mean massive austerity across Europe to the tune of over €166 billion. A yes vote will allow the Irish government to argue that there is support for their polices and that they have a mandate to implement further austerity – water charges, property charges.

The rejection of this treaty is vital to defend the living standards across Ireland and Europe.

Once again, my questions were met with silence…….

watch?v=v380d2wXCmg

Below is the text of my speech:

Mr. Barroso – The gulf between your rhetoric and the policies your Commission is implementing that the entire European economy may yet fall into it.

You talk about solidarity, but with the Troika, you impose policies which threaten the very basis of society in Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

You talk about jobs, but because of your policies we have the highest level of unemployment since the introduction of the euro with 25 million people unemployed across the EU.

You talk about sustainable growth, but the austerity policies you want to institutionalise with the Austerity Treaty will turn the recession into a deep depression.

Can I ask you a few questions that I think the people of Ireland who will vote on this Treaty in 6 weeks time, deserve an answer to?

Are you aware that according to the Commission, in 2013, 18 out of the 25 countries will have structural deficits greater than that allowed by the Treaty?

Are you aware that meeting those targets will mean over 166 billion worth of cuts and extra taxes across Europe?

How can you talk about growth when imposing this level of austerity simultaneously across Europe. If implemented, your Austerity Treaty will turn Europe into an economic waste ground.

Economist Paul Krugman was right when he wrote yesterday about “the apparent determination of European leaders to commit economic suicide for the continent as a whole.”

Chambers Ireland’s statement is similar to the position of the establishment parties during the first Lisbon campaign when the infamous ‘Yes for Jobs’ were plastered across the country. That lie has been exposed with nearly 80,000 jobs being lost since that referendum.

Chambers Ireland calling for a ‘Yes’ vote in this referendum is the equivalent of turkeys voting for Christmas. Vision-net produced figures in November 2011 which showed that 1,930 private companies had closed that year. This was up 20% on the figures for 2010. This was the result of the failed austerity policies. The most high risk sectors according to the research were hotels, bars, retail and wholesale, in other words those sectors most sensitive to the spending power of low and middle income workers.

Passing this treaty will result in at least another €5.7 billion worth of cuts and tax rises. This will have a devastating effect on demand in the economy. Ireland is the first E.U. country to have had 6 consecutive years  of shrinking domestic demand.

A ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum will result in more business closures with the resulting job losses.

A ‘No’ vote is needed to strike a blow against the failed policy of austerity. This will be a blow to the government and the European establishment. It will spark a debate across Ireland and Europe about the type of Europe we want. Not a Europe of job losses, attacks on living standards and attacks on working conditions, but a Europe for the millions not the millionaires, one where the vast wealth is used to create jobs and raise living standards.