Ireland year away from Greek devastation unless austerity stopped

Dublin - A video interview with Richard Boyd Barrett, a member of the Irish Parliament, about the devastation of EU-enforced austerity measures.

RT interviews Barrett and asks him about the "No" campaign on the referendum on the fiscal pact with the European Union. He explained that the pact is a European agreement, which countries are being asked to sign, that will compel governments to reduce debt and deficit payments over a long period of time (up to 10 years). Barrett states that Ireland is already suffering from the burden of austerity. He says that after 4 years of austerity cuts, around 450,000 people are unemployed, 200,000 have had to leave the country because there is no work, approximately 750,000 people are living in abject poverty with 250,000 children going to bed hungry. With the possibility of further cuts, the Irish economy is failing and Barrett feels that Ireland will be in the same situation as Greece within a year. Barrett and his group will be voting "no" in a referendum on the European Union fiscal pact on May 31, 2012, which would impose yet more austerity cuts on the country, with disastrous effects.