IRELAND’S “PROFOUNDLY immoral” bailout agreement is dispossessing the poor and the vulnerable while protecting people who are responsible for the financial crisis, Social Justice Ireland told members of the “troika” yesterday.
The group, led by Fr Seán Healy, held a meeting in Dublin with three representatives each of the European Commission and the European Central Bank, and two members of the International Monetary Fund to campaign for greater protection for vulnerable groups. The meeting lasted for 90 minutes, said Fr Healy, who added that the representatives were “certainly very engaged with what we were presenting”.
Social Justice Ireland presented a 16-page document to members of the troika, who are in Dublin for the latest quarterly review of the Government’s progress in meeting targets set under the agreement.
“It was very much in the context of the macro realities,” said Fr Healy of the discussion.
The group argues that the bailout deal requires economic changes that are too fast and too severe to be credible.
“These factors are combining to undermine economic growth and, in turn, undermine any potential for recovery,” he said.
Celtic Tiger growth rates would need to be achieved in order for Ireland to have any prospect of recovery under the terms of the bailout, he added.
Though the Government was honouring benchmarks on banks and fiscal issues set out in the EU-IMF memorandum of understanding, promised outcomes on economic growth, jobs, loans to small businesses and essential public services are not being met, Social Justice Ireland said.
The organisation also pointed to a dramatic reduction in funding for the community and voluntary sector, “often the place of last resort” for vulnerable people.
“The European Central Bank and the European Commission both played a role in the decisions that caused Ireland’s problems. Now, however, these institutions refuse to accept their share of the responsibility,” Fr Healy said.
“Instead, they insist that people who played no role in these decisions – Ireland’s poor and vulnerable – must pay in full to reimburse these institutions. This is a profoundly immoral process.”
