Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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I have tabled a number of amendments and I will try to deal with them. The Minister mentioned an adjustment plan could most likely result in unpalatable choices. This would not be in line with the amendment I tabled, which is that the plan should prioritise economic growth, job creation and high-quality public services. Perhaps we should prioritise the plan we are in at present. As recently as this week the troika stated while the plan may be reaching its targets it is failing, and there is no doubt it is failing people and the domestic economy. I do not know why there is stubbornness about changing the plan. I am afraid the Minister and the Government are focused on adjustments without recognising that if we were to prioritise economic growth or job creation - with more than the spin coming from the Government - and lift people out of unemployment, take them off social welfare and put them into the workforce so they would pay tax and increase their spending power in their local communities it would result in closing the deficit. It is very disappointing but not surprising that the issues of job creation, public services and economic growth do not get a mention in the plan.

With regard to requiring approval by the Houses of the Oireachtas, I dispute and challenge the Minister's assumption this would not be in compliance with the treaty that was passed. As the Minister rightly said, the treaty has placed an onus on us to trigger a correction mechanism to be decided by the Parliament. The treaty does not specify in what shape this correction mechanism would take, although it includes the four points laid down in the correction mechanism. It does not rule out the Houses of the Oireachtas being required to approve this correction mechanism. I challenge the Minister's assumption that the treaty subverts democracy and that a future Government or Minister for Finance can lay before the Dáil a troika programme committing the country to huge austerity through unpalatable decisions taken by a Government without seeking the approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas. This is a major retrograde step. I recall the four-year plan introduced by Fianna Fáil was forced to a vote in the Dáil. The Minister and his party called for approval by the Houses of the Oireachtas and the troika programme itself was put before the Houses. This would keep in line with what has happened so far. I challenge the Minister's assumption that this would not be in line with the treaty.

The Government is running scared of poverty impact analysis. One can see very clearly the adjustments made so far have hit hard on a section of society which is impoverished, and it is not only the stereotypical idea one has of people who are poor. There is now a huge squeeze on the middle. We are all aware of the "Liveline" programme and the piece on the news about an individual who stole food to feed his children. Very few Irish people have not at one stage in their lives sang "The Fields of Athenry" about a man who stole Trevelyan's corn so his children could see the morning. To think an individual is doing the same thing in 2012 as somebody did two centuries previously is appalling. Perhaps if poverty and equality impact assessments were done on the budget positions put forward by the Government we would not force people down this path.

I challenge some of the statements made by the Minister but I understand he will not accept these amendments. I will not press them.