Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The same phrase was used on Committee Stage, that is, the reference to the need for a high degree of certainty now. We thrashed out the point but there is still no certainty because it is still a decision of a Minister. Who knows what government could be in place at that stage? It is not possible to give 100% certainty to our so-called European partners that the money would be paid in. It depends on what government we had in place. There could be a left government or Minister in place who does not agree to it.

What the phrase means is that democracy or coming back to the Dáil adds a degree of uncertainty. It is problematic if this is the Government approach. It is problematic if we have to be able to tell our European partners that the money will go, they need not worry and the banks will have it because the Government does not have to go back to the Dáil. The Minister of State is not now making the case that the Dáil cannot come back and we could not have it done in time. If the issue is more a question of whether the Dáil would agree to it, then it is somewhat problematic democratically.

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