Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Deputy must recognise that we do not live in the world in which he would like to live but in one where this republic has lost its economic sovereignty. We have lost control of our cheque book. Every fortnight, the Governor of the Central Bank must report to Frankfurt to state that our fortnightly returns in terms of revenue and cost reductions are meeting targets. Otherwise, the money that pays the Deputy's and my salaries and those of everybody who works in this building will not come out of the ATM. That is where we are. Michael Collins, the first Minister for Finance of this State, had more room to manoeuvre than his successor as Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, has today.

That we have lost our economic sovereignty is a reality I do not like. I will not go into the history of how it came about. However, I wish to regain it as quickly as possible.

Hear, hear.

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