Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy started by saying he had asked me two questions that I did not answer and he finished up on meters and water, and all of that, through the EMC. Question No. 3 asks the position regarding the Economic Management Council and Question No. 6 asks the position regarding the status of the Economic Management Council and if I would make a statement on the matter. I answered the two questions and I made a statement on the matter but I will make it again. The Economic Management Council continues in situand the status of the EMC is that of a Cabinet committee, which has only four members. The Deputy questions its constitutionality. It has been set up in accordance with Cabinet procedures and is a very important entity.

I made a point last week in this general discussion which Deputy Martin should bear in mind. The last Government comprised his party and the Green Party with the support of Ms Harney. The problem was that for 12 months before it actually happened this country was on a slide into an economic abyss and the Department of Finance was not talking to the Department of the Taoiseach or anybody else. The Deputy was present at Cabinet meetings where I do not know whether this was discussed or not. The value of having an Economic Management Council was that the information relevant to the country's economic status was made available to the leaders of the parties and also the Ministers involved in this case. When this Government was appointed, we were able to share the information exactly as it was in its rawness and not have a situation where the Governor of the Central Bank was required to go into a telephone kiosk in Frankfurt and ring Ireland to say that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, was already in the country, while two of the Deputy's colleagues were on national television, saying they never heard anything about that, that they did not know it was in Ireland at all and saying, "Did you hear that?" and "I did not hear that either". The value of having it was to have an information flow between the senior members of Government, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and in this case, the Ministers for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform so that we know the financial position of the country at all times. That is why, in part, by following a plan, and given the knowledge we had, we have been able to work with the people to bring the country to a point where we have now emerged from that and are deemed to be making a strong recovery. The next challenge is to build on that.

The Deputy has made the point about the Economic Management Council but not everything is discussed there, as he is aware. We had a Cabinet meeting this morning and there were 18 or 19 items on the agenda, none of which was discussed at the Economic Management Council because they were discussed, as everything else is, at a full Cabinet meeting. At a meeting before that there were 23 items and, as far as I can make out, one or two were discussed at part of an EMC meeting. Binding decisions are not made at the Economic Management Council; they are for that flow of information on the major economic issues. The Cabinet collectively discusses and debates those, if necessary, and comes to a decision. It is not a case of saying people must accept this but of having all the Ministers around the table for collective Cabinet responsibility and to make those decisions.

The Deputy also asked about water. I heard the comment of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy White, that the Economic Management Council served a purpose for a while when we were in an economic war. It still serves a very important purpose and will continue to do so. If I recall correctly, Deputy Martin supported and genuinely supports water contributions. It is hypocritical of him to come in here and say they should be scrapped, abolished and that there is no basis for it.

See this speech in context