James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

It has happened time and again.

I support the amendment and congratulate Deputy Penrose on tabling it. The laws of unforeseen consequence will certainly apply if it is not accepted. The 12% cut in the minimum wage is at the core of this issue. The lowest paid workers in the State will be affected. The bonuses for bankers will be greater than the annual income of those on the minimum wage. The Government has taken money from the lowest paid workers, the blind, the disabled, widows and carers. Each carer saves the State tens of thousands of euro by the care given to his or her loved one in the home, to everyone's benefit. The cut is short-sighted, mean-spirited, cold-hearted and so unnecessary.

The Office of the Ceann Comhairle wrote to the Fine Gael Deputies to tell them their amendment was out of order and that it was "outside the scope of the Bill", yet the name of the Bill is the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Bill 2010. What public interest is served by omitting this amendment and by paying bonuses to bankers, the money for which bonuses was provided by the taxpayer to support the bank in question? The bank would not have been in a position to pay the money had it not been supported by the taxpayer.

Bonuses are paid in December and not earned until that month. One could be performing wonderfully well until September and make a hames of matters in October and November, and thus be entitled to a bonus.

Bonuses are not earned until December.

The Government brought in the bank guarantee in September 2008. It was a glaring omission not to deal with this issue. That once again highlights the utter incompetence of the Minister for Finance. It is not nice to have to say that about someone but the reality is that this country is in this morass because of the bank guarantee, the manner in which it was implemented, the scope it covered, and a refusal, until it was obvious to everybody, to wind down Anglo Irish Bank. It was eventually done €30 billion, €40 billion or €50 billion later, and the country now finds itself at a crossroads where tough decisions have to be made.

This Government has often prided itself on taking the tough decisions but I have asked time and again why those tough decisions are always tough on the poorest, the most vulnerable, the chronically ill, the disabled, the blind, and now the carers. What moral compass has this Government got? What moral authority has it got? I suggest to the Ministers of State opposite that it has none. It has lost the credibility of the people. It has lost the credibility of the markets, and it has lost the credibility of the international community. It has damaged our country and our reputation.

I want to know how it can be that the Government would not have the political courage to defer these payments until such time as an expert group can be put together, with the best minds in the country, to devise a methodology of ensuring this money does not pass from the taxpayer because it is unjust, wrong and unfair. It infuriates people.

The Government has destroyed our country and our economy, and now it wants to destroy our society because the effect of these sort of measures on blind people, for example, who will lose €8 per week, might be the difference between them being able to feed their guide dog or not doing so. Their ability to go to the shop independently and live some sort of an independent life will be compromised, all to ensure that bankers can have bonuses to cruise the Caribbean at Christmas time. What in the name of God are the Members opposite thinking? How could they possibly preside over that?

In life there are choices. There is law, and sometimes there can be legal niceties and legal difficulties but where there is a will there is a way. That way should be sought and taken. This Government has failed in that regard.

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