Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Through the Bill we have brought forward, we want to put this issue in the hands of the people only. The Government's flaky proposal of a plebiscite would put control in the hands of a future Government when with a simple majority in the House the law could be changed. That is all that is needed to change the law at any time and sell to the highest bidder - to vulture capitalists. The Government has left the way open. Of course, because of the IMF, the ECB, the troika or some other conglomerate, the Government could state, "We have to do it because the big boys have told us to do it," and force it on the people, or some other concoction of a Government will force it on them. We could have a situation where there was a Fine Gael Government. Unfortunately, there are no Labour Party Members present in the House to hear what I have to say, but I make the point that Labour Party people, most of whom are fair-minded, need to be very careful. We can imagine a situation where Fine Gael and the Reform Alliance, the PDs Mark II, are occupying the Government benches with a majority. Those who occupy the Labour Party benches now will have to trust them. They are willing to go with the legislation and trust a right-wing Government including the Reform Alliance, the PDs Mark II or Mark III, with Fine Gael, on this issue. I certainly would not trust it on it, given the U-turns it has made and what I have seen it do since it came to power.

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