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

Why is the Bill no longer listed?

In the context of the health reform Bill, the Government promised that the HSE would cease to exist over time. That was promised in 2011. While the Bill is listed, it states that it is not possible to indicate when publication is expected at this stage. That is a phrase we have become used to over the past four years but now that we are getting to the end stage, I suggest to the Chief Whip that he would change the terminology and say the Bill will not be introduced during the lifetime of the Government.

Could the Taoiseach indicate when we can expect the finance Bill? Will it contain any provision for a bank levy in terms of banks that refuse to cut their variable mortgage interest rate? The Minister, Deputy Noonan, has said different things at different times. He has huffed and puffed and said he would talk to the banks, that he would intervene, that he would introduce a bank levy, yet today he said competition is a better way of doing it. That was his most recent iteration on the interest rate saga. He has taken no action whatsoever.

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