Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State got very defensive. It is a blank cheque in all matters, except the amount of money that we will make available to the facility. There are likely to be more problems in Europe in the future and people will consider how we should address them. One of the ways to do so would be by amending the loan facility agreement. The Government would not have to revert to Parliament because Parliament would already have conferred on the Minister in law all of the powers necessary to implement the loan facility agreement. It is a blank cheque because, although we can see what it says, we are introducing this Trojan Horse, in that the agreement can be changed at any time as long as all of the parties who signed up to it agree. That is okay if one believes the Minister's veto is robust enough or that he is fine, but he does not have a majority in the Dáil. Passing a provision that gives a large number of powers to the Minister to implement everything in the loan facility agreement is not problematic at this time, but it could be if other articles not debated by the Oireachtas were to be introduced.

I am conscious of the time, section 2 and the fact that we are nearing Report Stage, but I am signalling that I wish to table an amendment on this matter on Report Stage. I cannot see why the Government would not support the idea of introducing amendments. It is hypothetical and may be unlikely to happen, as there would have to be consensus among all member states, but in the event of there being amendments to the loan facility agreement, they should revert to the Dáil so as to ensure the powers conferred under section 2 only relate to this agreement, not any future addition, amendment or deletion.