Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The final sentence in the reply speaks volumes. The Economic Management Council, which is composed of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform met 11 times, which is a multiple of many of the other committees. Is it the case that in this Government, Cabinet committees are surplus to requirement because the EMC has assumed such dictatorial powers? It appears that it is frog-marching the Government in whatever direction it wishes. Is that not obvious from what happened in 2011 when the president of the European Central Bank, Mr. Trichet, screamed at the Taoiseach and dictated that he would not burn bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank or that an economic bomb would go off under him in Dublin? The Taoiseach capitulated in an hour without reference to the Cabinet, which apparently had agreed that such burning of bondholders would take place. What is the purpose of the committees when any decisions or reports they make to the Cabinet can be apparently overturned by a very short meeting, perhaps even in the corridor, of the Economic Management Council? Where does that leave any role for the democratic input of elected representatives in this country?

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