Paul Murphy Urges Debt Cancellation and Better Welcome for Ukrainians
Paul Murphy spoke about welcoming people fleeing Ukraine and urged the Irish government to take concrete international and domestic steps. He called for cancellation of Ukraine's foreign debt, opposed the suspension of opposition parties, and pressed for expanded school and English-language support for displaced children.
Debt cancellation appeal
Paul Murphy asked whether the Irish government has a position on calls from large trade unions and social movements in Ukraine for cancellation of what he called odious debt. He cited figures given in the appeal - foreign debt of 125 billion dollars and debt servicing equal to 12% of state budget expenditure - and argued that chaotic borrowing, oligarchization and austerity conditions make debt servicing contrary to just rebuilding.
Concern over suspended opposition parties
He criticised the so-called temporary suspension of 11 opposition parties in Ukraine and urged the government to make a statement opposing the measure. He noted that the suspended parties together won 18.3% of the vote in the last election, including the largest opposition party with 2.7 million voters, and warned that temporary bans often become permanent and can undermine the fight against the invasion.
Education and school support for children from Ukraine
Murphy pressed the government to fund schools to welcome the new intake of children fleeing war, calling for hiring new teachers and SNAs with proper full-time contracts. He also demanded extra counselling support and psychologists for trauma recovery and proposed bringing many empty, particularly church-owned, buildings into public ownership to expand facilities.
Reform of English-language teaching provision
He argued against reliance on underpaid, precarious private-sector English language teachers and called for expansion of the ETB English language teaching programme. Murphy urged free classes across the country staffed by properly paid teachers on decent contracts instead of dependent on private companies.
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Okay I'm mainly going to focus my remarks on the question of giving the best welcome to those who are fleeing from Ukraine and coming to Ireland but before I get to that I do want to make a couple of international points one is does the Irish government have a position on the call from large trade unions in Ukraine social movements for the cancellation of Ukraine's odious debt it's immense the foreign debt stands at 125 billion dollars the debt servicing expenditure is 12% of all state budgetary expenditure in the appeal they make the point that chaotic borrowing and antisocial debt conditionality was a result of total oligarchization unwilling to fight the wealthy the state rulers kept getting deeper in debt loans were issued under conditions of social spending cuts and the repayment forced to economize on vital needs and apply austerity to foundational economic sectors and it's a very poor country Ukraine debt servicing is contrary to rebuilding that state in any sort of just way with the Irish government please make a clear statement calling for the cancellation of Ukrainian debt that would be a real act of solidarity secondly I don't think the government has made any statement and I would like the government to make a statement and a criticism about the so-called temporary suspension of 11 opposition parties in Ukraine it's very concerning and these aren't political parties that we would share anything in common with but between them they had 18.3% of the vote in the last election it includes the biggest opposition party 2.7 million voters and it's very concerning and of course reasonably likely what starts out as a temporary measure becomes a permanent ban we've seen that again and again in anti-democratic measures introduced at times of emergency and I just quote briefly from the head of the Ukrainian socialist organization the social movement which says that the government I mean they again don't politically stand in solidarity with these plans parties that have been banned and so on but they make the point the government is now telling several million Ukrainians that the parties they voted for are beyond the pale it likely won't necessarily motivate them to keep fighting the invaders at the front either in other words it undermines the struggle against the Russian invasion to send such a message and we need a statement by the government opposing this undemocratic measure the final point is in terms of education issues that the government needs to step up and provide the funding for schools so that they can welcome in the new intake of Ukrainian children who have had to flee war we need to hire new teachers SNAs and we should start by offering proper full-time contracts for those teachers we need extra counseling support psychologists available to help children recovering from the traumas of war there are many empty buildings and near our schools particularly church-owned buildings which should immediately be brought into public ownership and used to expand facilities they these people need support final point I'll make is in relation to English language teachers many of whom are currently very poorly paid and on precarious contracts in the private sector instead of relying on these private companies we need to expand the ETB English language teaching program provide classes right across the country free of charge and with staff properly paid and on decent contracts
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