Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am appalled that the Government will not act. The old saying about laughing all the way to the bank is appropriate. The bankers are laughing all the way to the bank, inside the bank and all over the bank. They are literary piddling all over the people. Why not, since they get aplomb from the Government?

Deputy Burton mentioned different cuts and what can be done for the children's hospital and so on. People who are going blind in Cork and Kerry cannot get cataracts removed. We could reference any category, including those involving schools, education, disabled people or unfortunate people who are downtrodden. Up to 30 or 40 people are languishing on trolleys for three or four days in my hospital in Clonmel. There is mayhem and bedlam. They have blankets for pillows.

On the other hand, these institutions are being let off tax-free. This is a scheme designed to allow them to write off taxes, yet they have bled the people dry. Why would they not do so, seeing as they get the support of the Government and the entire system of administration and taxation and so on?

What about the ordinary person who pays taxes? I heard the Minister suggest the Government did not have enough money even to make a start to pay back the women who had to give up work. Those women are now being penalised with certain payments. They had to retire under the public service ban when they got married and became pregnant. They had to give up work. Many other areas could be helped in some small way.

However, it is all for the big institutions and big people. It is political and moral cowardice to an extraordinary degree because the Government will not tackle the banks or take any opportunity to try to bring them before committees, as Deputy McGuinness suggested, to hold them accountable to the House.

We are accountable to the people, and so we should be, as Teachtaí Dála. We are messengers of the people. However, we are not even tickling these people. They are a protected species, like the hen harrier. We cannot go within 100 miles of them.

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