Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is the Taoiseach still satisfied with regard to the constitutional status of the economic management committee vis-à-vis its role within the Cabinet? He stated that the committee has met on ten occasions. The Ministers for Social Protection and Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputies Burton and Coveney, and others have on occasion articulated their concerns at being excluded from economic decisions and indicated that the economic management committee tends to make all of the decisions. We know, for example, that the committee - which comprises four Ministers, including the Taoiseach - was central to the establishment of Irish Water. It also approved the payment of bonuses to the staff of Irish Water and agreed to the seamless transfer of senior staff from local authorities - to whom lump sums of up to €330,000 were paid, along with pensions - and, essentially, into other public sector jobs. The latter are earning very high salaries in the positions then now hold. The Taoiseach never commented on that matter when questions in respect of it were put to him. We all know about leaks in the system and other matters with which it will be necessary to deal. However, Irish Water is going to have to depend on local authorities to deliver, manage and maintain water supplies for the next 12 years. As a result, the essential purpose of Irish Water is to levy charges.

In the context of the economic management committee, many Ministers reacted with disbelief when they heard the various stories relating to Irish Water. In the first instance they stated that they were of the view that bonuses should not be paid. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, was very clearly annoyed about the matter and stated that she was going to take it up with the Cabinet. Perhaps she did not know what was happening because everything was done through the economic management committee. I do not know whether she raised the matter with the members of that committee. The Minister of State at the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brian Hayes, said that it was a PR disaster. The Minister of State is very interested in PR these days because he is running for Europe. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, and other Ministers were also very annoyed about this matter. Perhaps that is because the economic management committee made all the running in respect of Irish Water. I do not know whether that is the case but there is a propensity among Ministers to disown decisions made by the Government on a regular basis.

I put it to the Taoiseach that there are serious questions with regard to the constitutional status of the economic management committee. As the Taoiseach revealed to the House, it meets frequently. This indicates, perhaps, the degree to which it dominates the formulation of policy and the fact that the remaining Ministers in the Cabinet simply rubber-stamp whatever the officials, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and the other Ministers on the committee decide. Clearly, many Ministers are being left outside the loop and they seem to believe they can say what they like about Government decisions because they are not involved in making them in the first instance. Will the Taoiseach comment on that matter?

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