Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has just said that the legislation and these proposals cannot exist outside of an emergency. That is something that needs to be scrutinised because the Government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth on this issue.

We have an emergency when it comes to this legislation, but there is no emergency when it comes to all of the other pronouncements made by various Ministers. In an opinion piece on 29 October in The Irish Timesthe Tánaiste wrote that "while the emergency is over, though, the need for reform is not". However, reform is quite different from an emergency. On 13 October the Minister for Finance said:

The forecast deficit for 2015 of 2.1% is well ahead of our original target of 2.7% and our excessive deficit requirement of less than 3% of gross domestic product, GDP.Consequently, we will exit the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact and move into the preventive arm of the pact.

The fiscal deficit is, therefore, now below what is required under the fiscal compact. The Minister went on to say, "The economy has been transformed. It is growing strongly across all sectors and, most importantly, sustaining and creating jobs." He said:

The Department of Finance is forecasting growth of 4.3% in 2016 taking account of the figures endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and the full impact of today's overall budget package. Economic growth is expected to average around 3% per annum thereafter.

He also said Ireland's debt would fall to just under 93% of GDP by the end of 2016, just below the European average. The Government is speaking out of both sides of its mouth on the question of there being an emergency. Because of this I can see a constitutional difficulty with this legislation.

In respect of the pension provisions, including on the withholding of pensions, included in the legislation, not restoring full pensions from 1 January 2016 is unconstitutional. As we know, pensions are seen as private property under the Constitution and this has been accepted by the courts. The retention by the State of €95 million in pension payments out of a figure of €125 million is unconstitutional. This issue needs to be addressed urgently.

On the withholding of payments to trade union members who voted democratically to continue the previous agreement which had not been completed, teachers and gardaí simply want a commitment that the details of the previous agreement will be maintained and honoured. My view is that the provisions included in the Bill on the withholding of payments from these trade union members constitute an anti-trade union position, one that has, unfortunately, been adopted by the Labour Party. There are significant difficulties with the legislation from both a constitutional and anti-trade union perspective.

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