I appreciate having the opportunity to make my small contribution to this debate. This is an extremely important issue and follows on from the point I made on the Order of Business about the urgency and the impetus required to restore some degree of public confidence in the political system and integrity into political life. Everybody in the House is aware that politics has been damaged from the perspective of the Government and the Opposition. The public has lost confidence in politics and is cynical. In many instances people are rightly cynical and disappointed because they feel let down by the political system. It is essential that we restore some degree of moral authority.

In the context of our current budgetary position and the fiscal corrections which will inevitably have to take place this year, the impetus to achieve some degree of moral authority for the Government and politics in general becomes even more pressing. (more…)

Speech on the Adjournment of the Dáil

I would like to raise on the adjournment the reports of mismanagement of Government funds by the Dublin Inner City Partnership, the resignations from the Partnership and the withdrawal of Pobal funding to the Partnership.

I am pleased to have an opportunity to raise this very serious and important matter in regard to the expenditure of public moneys. The Minister of State will be aware that the Dublin Inner City Partnership was established in 1991, one of 12 development companies under the programme for economic and social progress at the time. The aim of this partnership was to fund community groups and to fund projects in disadvantaged areas, including those most affected by abject poverty in the State. (more…)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this important legislation, namely, the Central Bank Reform Bill 2010. Clearly, this legislation is badly needed and were one to comb the nation’s highways and byways, it would be difficult to find anyone who does not share the view that our banking and financial systems, and probably our political system, are in dire need of reform. Consequently, this Bill constitutes an important first step. I believe the public is disillusioned and distrustful and is utterly dubious about all financial and regulatory institutions within this State and consequently, reform is badly needed. A robust, credible and rigorous system must be developed that will prevent any recurrence of the type of Russian roulette-style banking and financial practices that literally have brought this country to its knees. While a new system of regulation undoubtedly is required, the question is whether the legislation proposed by the Government is the solution and this requires some consideration.

Objectively, it is highly difficult to place one’s faith and confidence in any system proposed by a Government that itself is utterly discredited. (more…)

On Tuesday Government and Unions negotiated a new public sector pay agreement, dealing with the employment conditions of public sector workers. The deal covers all the main sectors in the public service including Health, Education, Justice, the Civil Service and State Agencies up to 2014. This is a milestone in Irish public policy as it was negotiated outside of the social partnership regime.

The Death of Social Partnership

This means that social partnership has finally run its course and is no longer the preferred method of negotiating pay and conditions in either the public or private sector. As the national finances have collapsed, social partnership is no longer a sustainable model for deciding the levels of pay of public servants. It is an outmoded model, which may have been relevant in the 1980s, but has long outlived its relevance. Looking at the historic impact of social partnership, it seems that pay deals were agreed behind closed doors, often at the expense of any real or meaningful public sector reform.

We now need to be realistic about the need for real public sector reform. (more…)

The decisions taken on Tuesday in relation to the banking sector have doubled the national debt.

They bring to €40B the total amount the Irish taxpayer will be putting into Anglo Irish Bank because of that bank’s reckless behaviour over the past decade.

Sadly this is not monopoly money, it is not ECB money. It is not cheap money. It is mortgaging the future of our country. Future generations will carry the burden of this debt. It is the final bill of the reckless economic management of the Fianna Fail government.

The Government’s Banking Policies

The Government’s banking policies have proved to be an expensive formula for delay, continuing credit contraction and job decimation.

1. When the Guarantee issued in September 2008, Minister Lenihan said it was “the cheapest bank bail-out in the world so far” (Irish Times, October 4) – instead it has proved the most expensive.

2. When the €11 billion of taxpayers’ money was given to AIB (€3.5 billion), Bank of Ireland (€3.5 billion) and Anglo Irish Bank (€4 billion) in May-June 2009, Minister Lenihan promised new lending for small businesses and a generous cash return for taxpayers. Neither was delivered.

3. When enacting the NAMA plan for the State to borrow €54 billion to buy toxic assets from the banks, Minister Lenihan said this would see “a wall of cash” (Sunday Tribune, September 16) hit the Irish economy. But instead lending conditions have continued to tighten and the banks have said they will use this money to repay their own debts instead of lending it into the economy. (more…)