Irish Water ‘a good example of the EU trying to save us from our own stupidity’

The EU is "an employers club" concerned with serving corporate interests and the UK's vote for Brexit is to be welcomed, says AAA-PBP TD Mick Barry on Wednesday's Inside Politics podcast from The Irish Times.

AAA-PBP's members have been critical of Europe's imposition of austerity policies in Ireland, Greece and other bailout recipients, and of the European Commission's decision that ending water charges would not be permitted under EU rules.

On where the left stands on the immigration issue, Barry said some of the debate around the issue had been “vile and disgusting” and partially blamed racism on capitalism.

“When you have high levels of homelessness, poor housing, lack of jobs, lack of decent wages, invariably racism flourishes in that soil. We link the fight against racism to the fight against capitalism. And in a modern European context that means taking a stand against the EU and the direction and drive that it’s a part of,” said Barry.

The Cork North-Central TD said the election of a majority of TDs in favour of abolishing water charges should carry more weight than pre-existing European rules.

The European Commission said again this week that Ireland cannot abolish water charges without breaching European law.

Barry said his party was not campaigning for Ireland to leave the EU at this time.

Also on the podcast, Minister of State Eoghan Murphy defended the EU's record in supporting employment and regional funding in Ireland.

He repeated the Government’s position that the UK’s departure from the EU should be negotiated without haste or acrimony.

He said European regulations on water “might be a good example of the EU trying to save us from our own stupidity, as they’ve tried in the past but we didn’t listen to them”.

“I wish they didn’t have to do that. I wish we could make that decision on our own. But unfortunately we are in this state of paralysis over this particular issue and it has dominated the agenda far too much.

“But we have got more serious problems such as housing, the cost of childcare, the refugee crisis, and direct provision,” Mr Murphy said.