Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am pleased to speak on this Bill. I compliment the Minister for introducing it. It is much talked about and needed and the public clearly expressed its wish in a referendum with an 80% "Yes" vote.

I have an issue with the holding of elections on Thursdays or Fridays. They should be held on Saturdays or Sundays. There are people who want elections to be held on Thursdays and Fridays and work overtime on Saturdays and Sundays. The system should be changed to allow the highest possible number of people, especially students and people working away from home, to exercise their franchise.

The last Government did not get to grips with this problem. I had many an animated debate with the former Taoiseach, Brian Cown, and the former Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, God rest him, about the capping of salaries in the public service to show faith with the hundreds of thousands of people who have been made redundant. Businesses and people are struggling and people have emigrated. Unfortunately the will was not there to deal with the issue. I do not know why.

A culture of "Yes Minister" operated. I am not blaming the public service in the main because it comprises many hundreds of thousands of good, hard-working people. With two eyes closed I saw what would happen when we introduced the pension levy two years ago. Nobody, from the lowest paid to the top, escaped. I thought there would be a sliding scale but there was not.

Many stories circulated at the time that a paper was presented to the late Brian Lenihan in a hospital bed which was pushed onto him to sign. Senior civil servants were not affected, including directors of services, county managers, superintendents and a wide range of other posts. I tabled a motion to my party at the time calling on it to reverse the change. When Brian Lenihan addressed the meeting he thanked me for tabling the motion.

When Brian Lenihan researched the issue he found that instead of the 100 people he was told by faithful civil servants were involved, 860 were involved. I said he was misled and he accepted that. I came to the conclusion that night that there was a cosy cartel in the senior echelons of power in this country. I wish the Minister well in trying to unshackle and break it. I hope he gets full support from the Cabinet, parties and colleagues because it has to happen. There is huge adversity and trauma in the country.

The people want us to take action. That is why they voted. They also voted to reject the formation of all powerful committees, and rightly so. I and my colleagues in the Technical Group opposed the referendum but the media, including RTE, were not interested. The public are wise, prudent and sharp, and are fed up of the situation in the country. They are fed up with what has happened since we gained our independence and the way our country has been hijacked by politicians and people in senior positions. It is nothing short of naked corruption. I do not say that lightly.

Deputy Ross referred to judicial appointments. They were not independent and were political appointments. What happened in recent times was shameful. I was at the mercy of one of these people in a court in my county. The person was specially picked for my case.

See this speech in context