Higgins:Austerity model is flawed

The economic model being used to force austerity on countries is flawed and needs to be changed to offer real solutions for real problems such as unemployment, President Michael D Higgins told the European Parliament yesterday.

Members of the parliament rose to their feet at the end of his address to applaud his plea for people to be offered a real choice between different economic models, and not just a variation of the same thing.

He warned about political leaders taking their cues from credit rating agencies that were accountable to nobody, saying these agencies had been proved incompetent even in their own sphere having failed to predict the weaknesses of financial institutions that led to the crisis.