Senator Bacik calls for debate on 'Plan B' for Economy

STATEMENT BY SENATOR IVANA BACIK

Labour Seanad Spokesperson for Justice, Equality & Law Reform
Thursday 2nd December, 2010

SENATOR BACIK CALLS FOR DEBATE ON ‘PLAN B' FOR ECONOMY

Speaking today in the Seanad, Senator Ivana Bacik strongly criticised the terms of the EU/IMF programme of financial support for Ireland, and called for a debate on alternatives to the programme, saying:

“The Government have been trying to tell us that there is no alternative to this programme – yet there is momentum gathering around other approaches. Labour is offering an alternative, and Labour has resisted and will oppose the Government's decision to frontload 6 billion euro worth of cuts in next week's Budget, and has pointed out that there is no strategy for job creation or growth in this slash-and-burn plan.”

Calling on the Government to acknowledge the need for a ‘plan B', Senator Bacik also said:

“Economists like Wolfgang Munchau and Prof Barry Eichengreen have argued that this plan merely puts off the inevitable – it ‘simply kicks the can down the road'. They are arguing for an alternative – they have argued that bondholders should be required to take losses and that debt should be restructured. I want the Government to tell us what they are planning if, as seems likely, their plan does not work. What is their plan B?”

ENDS