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

Does that not mean that the Cabinet committee on EU affairs was in no way involved in the Taoiseach's decision not to seek a precautionary credit line on Ireland’s exit from the troika-led bailout? What does that say about how the Cabinet, or the Taoiseach, deals with crucial issues affecting our economy and our people in regard to the number of Departments, or Ministers responsible for Departments, that the Taoiseach involves or does not involve in the making of crucial decisions? Is it not the case that the Taoiseach's decision not to seek the precautionary credit line was to make big men, mar dhea, of the members of the Cabinet on leaving the troika behind? Is it not the case that this was a political decision to allow the Taoiseach and EU establishment to posture based on the fiction that three years of bitter austerity was somehow good for the Irish when it was, in fact, a disaster?

Is it not the case that the Cabinet committees the Taoiseach set up, supposedly to provide more effective government for the Irish, are really a charade?

What we have is the dictatorship of the Government politburo, known as the Economic Management Council, EMC, which makes all decisions. Members of the European affairs sub-committee include the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Minister for Education and Skills. These Ministers are in charge of Departments for which decisions the Taoiseach makes on this issue have enormous implications, particularly regarding jobs. What is the purpose of Cabinet sub-committees if the new politburo makes all of the decisions?

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