Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put on record that I am an ex-Fianna Fáil Deputy. I was in Fianna Fáil for all of my life, between the age of 16 when I joined until approximately two and a half years ago. I was in Fianna Fáil and I voted for the bank guarantee. I was called into this Chamber quite late at night and was told we had to vote for this measure or Europe would collapse. I certainly admit I would not do it again. I am open to learning and I put together this motion without help from anyone. I hated having Members refer to the motion this evening as being dishonest, spurious or of poor quality. Perhaps it was but it was the best of my humble effort. Moreover, it was short because it did not allow room for lengthy amendments. It was a three-line motion because, as the previous speaker stated, the public is incensed. Moreover, they are twice as incensed now because of the mess we are in and the unfortunate situation in which they find themselves, be they unemployed, disabled, carers, small-business people, small farmers or whatever. I include public servants, who do a tremendous job, hundreds and thousands of them all through the public service, both indoor and outdoor, and I am not trying to attack such people. I am not trying to be populist but have learnt a little bit.

I may have been hoodwinked for many years but those Members who attacked me from the other side of the House should know that for the four years I was in the parliamentary party, I railed against the situation. If they wished to check, they would find that on the record. I came into this Chamber and spoke against what was going on. I was the one man who fought with the late Deputy Brian Lenihan when he reversed the pension levy on senior public servants. It was a most distasteful thing to do and he had been told that the coterie of civil servants involved was 117 strong. However, I tabled notice of a motion and when the matter was investigated, it is on the record that he thanked me for so doing because when he went to check, the true figure was 860. It was a trick of the loop job. While I hate to use the word "lies", what was done to that Minister at that time was untrue. I also voted in this House to cut the pensions in the budget after discussing the matter at length with many of my backbench colleagues in Fianna Fáil. We were young first-time or second-time Deputies and we voted. On the morning of the budget, we were told by the late Deputy Brian Lenihan that the pensions were being cut. We voted for the measure but then found out subsequently that it protected the elite who had been in this House for ten years or more. They took up the ladder and left all the lads below at the bottom. Deputy Spring mentioned how some people in this House are in receipt of better pay and conditions than he is and they are. Moreover, it is the same in my case. While I do not begrudge it, I merely am stating the game is up.

The Minister opposite, as well as Members from the Labour Party and the Fine Gael Party should note how they got into this House. The party of which I was a member - they can accuse me of jumping ship or whatever but I could take no more - was dealt with severely by the public. The Government Members should note of the number of Fianna Fáil Members present because people are sick of what went on, namely, the shenanigans, the entire situation in respect of the banking crisis, the former Taoiseach, Mr. Cowen, golfing with so-and-so from Anglo-Irish Bank and all the rest. The public are sick of the shenanigans and the games. The Minister and the Government parties came into office on a platform of transparency, openness and honesty. However, this is not what people got. I recognise the Minister and all his colleagues have made efforts - I am not here to score political points - but the people have not got what they want. They have not got what they voted for because the incoming Government accepted austerity. It then heaped on more austerity and now intends to do so again, on ordinary people who are in penury and cannot pay. The troika cannot see this. Incidentally, I have met the troika thrice as a member of the Technical Group. Were I still a party member, I would never have met them, as backbenchers simply come in to vote and to do what they are told. They obey the Whip system, which is a charade. My point is all Members know that more cannot be taken.

As for the motion not being well-timed, I waited to table it for 15 months. The Technical Group is allocated time for one motion per month and I decided to table this motion. I waited to do so because I was so sick and incensed by it. I do not suggest I am whiter than white or Smokey Joe or whatever. I have no comfortable job to go back to if I lose out here. I have had a small business for 30 years and in this, my 31st year, business has never been worse because of the economy. I have no special position to which to return and nor do I seek one. However, I wish to empathise and to try to bring to the House the messages I receive in my clinics and my office, as do all Members, from the ordinary people who are being visited by the sheriff and are being tormented by Revenue. I refer to ordinary, honest to goodness law-abiding citizens who always pays their way, who want to pay their way and who wish to provide for their families but who are being denied that obligation. Members should recall the changes that were introduced in last year's budget in respect of pension funds and which took effect this year on public servants who had been paying into that fund all their lives. Now, however, they will receive a reduced sum, as Members are capable of taking such action. People cannot understand the reason Members of the Oireachtas are a protected species and this was the reason I included Deputies and Senators in the motion.

The Minister knows, having canvassed in many elections, that the people think we are an elite group. In the past week they heard the Taoiseach and the Minster for Finance, Deputy Noonan, say that they cannot do anything about these pensions. We should devise a constitutional amendment if we must. Contractual obligations and property rights do not matter when there are cuts to carers, people with disabilities and everybody else. It is not fair.

As legislators we can change the law and force these geniuses to give up their pensions and pay, which they do not deserve because they did not fulfil their contracts. They looked to avoid their contractual obligations and were reckless. In any other job in the private sector they would have been penalised and money would have been taken from them. I do not believe that we cannot deal with the matter here. I often heard the retort when I attended parliamentary party meetings that we had to act on the advice of the Attorney General. I even asked at one stage if we had to take the advice or if we could we get a second opinion. The Attorney General is only one person, although I am not criticising the office.

There was mention of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Those pension funds, of €229,417, were mentioned when I spoke to the motion. As Deputy Ross noted, all these posts and institutions are discredited because they are self-policing. We are asking bankers to take a voluntary cut in pensions, and although I acknowledge Mr. Sheehy's actions, he still has a pension of €250,000. That does not go down with the ordinary people. We are fooling ourselves, and that is why the motion was tabled.

Most people spoke fairly on the motion but Deputy McCarthy and the chairman of the Labour Party decided to be vitriolic in attacking me. In a six-month period in 2009, when there were 55 votes in Seanad Éireann, Deputy McCarthy was present for 15 of them. In a nine-year period he pocketed €1 million as a Senator.

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