Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá súil agam go mbeidh an Cathaoirleach ann maidin amárach nuair a bheidh mé ar Leaders' Questions. Deputy Broughan is a great man to keep order and I apologise for whispering to my colleague when Deputy Fleming was speaking. He would be a great man for Leaders' Questions and would keep order on the Government side while I was trying to make my points against the adversity of the onslaught of the shouting and everything else. Sin scéal eile.

I am delighted to speak on the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2012. At least the Government had the manners and respect to call it what it is - it is the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill - unlike some of the Bills it has brought in recently. One was called the land conveyancing and something something else Bill, a total misnomer. It is the Bill to throw people our of their houses, the evictions Bill. It is not the first one the Government has brought in, so at least this is called by its proper title and amends an existing Bill. It is about time there was some accountability there.

Mar a dúirt mé riamh, ar Bille eile, the Government is closing the stable door when the horse is gone. The Chair will give out to me for mentioning names but Mr. Cardiff is in Brussels or somewhere else and many of the Ministers of the day are swanning around on big pensions. The bankers are at large roaming the countryside like predators, as they always were. One of them has possibly been charged but nothing has been heard about a court case. He presented 30,000 documents and when we hear the likes of that we know nothing will ever come out of it. It is simple enough to charge people with fraud - naked, basic fraud. I am a small businessman and I know that if financial returns are misstated by any amount of money, be it €1 or €5 million, and I mislead the accountant who signs off on the basis of the figures I supply him-----

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