Broadcaster Eamon Dunphy said that he is ashamed of how the Government has acted in relation to Greece ahead of a protest on Saturday in solidarity with the Greek people.
“Ireland has chosen to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people I would consider responsible for this calamity for the Greek people,” Dunphy said at a press conference in Dublin.
Greece’s government has called a referendum for Sunday after five months of acrimonious talks with its official creditors over an aid-for-reforms deal broke down without a deal. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said the plebiscite is not about Greece’s membership of the EU single currency but a chance for Greeks to say whether they are willing to bear more austerity, demanded by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund as part of a proposed deal.
“The EU is wrong, there’s no doubt about that,” Dunphy said, adding that he hopes a No vote will be the result of the Greek referendum on Sunday, to show “how brutal cruel, and undemocratic our European institutions are.”
Member of the Greek community in Ireland Thomae Kakouli Duarte said that although she welcomes a referendum, but she does not want Greece to leave the eurozone.
“Even the name ‘Europe’ comes from a Greek myth, there’s no way there can be a Europe without Greece,” she said.
“Of course we want to stay in Europe, but we want a Europe that is more equal.”
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan said she believes the issue in Greece was "purely political, and not economic".
Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger said there is a "campaign of financial terrorism" against the people of Greece. "I think what we're seeing this week is the whole EU project being laid bare in front of the ordinary people of Europe," Ms Coppinger said. "It's the Troika's way or get out."
One of the main topics of the press conference was the coverage of the Greece crisis by the media, with Mr Dunphy saying the media in Ireland and Europe are running a false narrative.
“For the last five years we have been humiliated by the European press, and particularly the German press, calling us lazy left, right and centre,” Ms Kakouli Duarte said.
Mr Dunphy said that a Yes vote in the referendum will show the fear and desperation of the Greek people, following a recent poll which showed a yes vote edging ahead.
“Fear may win the day for the yes vote, but that doesn’t mean Europe is right, it just means the bullies have won”.
“On Sunday we vote for our right to have a say in our future,” Greek citizen Antonis Tsavidis said.
The Greek Solidarity Committee said it expects thousands to attend a march on Saturday at noon at the Central Bank in Dublin.