Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

What did our King Midas, the Fianna Fáil Party, do? It stoked tax breaks. What did the Minister's predecessor, the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, do when a proposal was made to impose a 1% stamp duty on contracts for difference? He argued that such a measure would reduce the power of the market to act as it saw fit. Greeks also talk about hubris, that is, acting in a manner that brings about one's own downfall.

This is an historic moment and we must not think only in terms of the package provided to Greece. While I believe this package is appropriate, it is also tough and I do not know if the Greeks will make it, particularly in the three year timeframe. We also need to examine the proposals the Minister will make in a week or two concerning the €750 billion stabilisation mechanism. We will also have to look in great detail at these initial proposals by the European Commission on oversights and guiding the budgetary process of member states. The Lisbon treaty promised that parliaments would be far more engaged before Ministers went to Brussels and that we would be informed, advised and consulted on decisions. Decision making is the prerogative of a national parliament, and in our system, of the Government of the day that commands a majority. It would be extraordinary if the Commission were to have sight of our budget in broad terms but we in this Parliament were not to have such sight, or more importantly, if the citizens of Ireland were not to be told through a parliamentary forum what exactly our Government was proposing to the Commission.

I heard the Minister for Social Protection at the weekend proposing a serious think about people who had paid a contributory pension in good faith. If such people ended up with more than one pension, then their contributory pension might be taken from them. As somebody who worked in the social welfare area, I do not understand how that can be done. This is an example of a kite being flown by a Fianna Fáil Minister in order to set the terms of a debate. It may well be that in the next budget, Fianna Fáil's real target is child benefit.

I was once a member of a local authority and the county manager explained that the council always came up with four to five proposals for a site for a landfill, three or four of which were non-runners. If the European Commission is to give advice and have oversight of our budget, it would be extraordinary if Fianna Fáil was to withhold that information from this Parliament. It is extraordinary that Fianna Fáil has embarked on a tactic whereby the Minister for Social Protection has been encouraged to run out and suggest that the contributory old age pension may no longer be an entitlement for people who have contributed to it. Fianna Fáil backbenchers may have a comment or two about that, but it is extraordinary that we have no budgetary process in this Parliament.

The Minister for Finance is now entering a round of discussion with the line Ministers in each Department. One line Minister has thrown out this idea. We do not know if it is a serious idea. I suspect it is a kite, but we have no forum in which to discuss it. The purpose of all this is a media setting agenda, and to make this a fevered subject of talk and speculation. Perhaps Fianna Fáil will then back down and reassure people that they are alright, before moving on to its real targets.

The Commission proposal to have oversight of member states' budgetary plans must give rise to long required reforms in this House to allow for a meaningful discussion of the budget. A budget means a plan for the next year, but this House does not even get to discuss the budget until after it has been announced. The Labour Party supports the proposal in respect of solidarity with Greece. We want to get more information about the €750 billion stabilisation fund. In particular, we want provision for a thorough debate of the Commission's proposals on information co-ordination and guidelines for budgets.

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