Dáil debates
Wednesday, 15 July 2020
Financial Provisions (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages
4:55 pm
Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source
I do not want to be an irritant to the Minister of State and I do not expect him to apologise for it again but it is utterly shameful that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, is not here today to take this session. It is an insult to the House. I understand it is because there is a Cabinet meeting. We asked during the suspension about the timing of this Bill because it is being pushed through. As Deputy Doherty said, we are going into this with a certain amount of blindness, which is not a healthy state for Members who are supposed to pass legislation to be in. Nevertheless, we accept the blindness on the basis of the urgency. We were told during the suspension that this has to be done and dusted, signed up to by all member states and backed up by legislation before it can be enacted. However, France, Estonia and Germany have still not signed up to it and we are told they will not do so until the end of this month. This House will be sitting until the end of this month and it is utterly disgraceful that we are pushing it through today in this manner, without proper scrutiny and without a proper sitting committee that could scrutinise and delve into this highly complex Bill.
A point was made about Germany looking for a lot of funding. I have no particular axe to grind with Germany but the experience in this country of the European Union and the banking system within Europe has left a bitter taste in our mouths. For us to go into this without being able to scrutinise it properly is unwelcome and unfortunate and, at the end of the day, may not be the healthiest thing we have ever done in this Parliament. The question asked by Deputy Doherty was not answered sufficiently. Will funding be available to businesses that operate on both sides of the Border or are we excluding businesses because, as was said, people on the northern side of the Border were forced out of the EU against their will? They have suffered the pandemic like the rest of us. They straddle the Border in their economic activity, as workers have long done, and they were let down in respect of the Covid payment. Will businesses that operate on both sides of the Border also be left out in the cold? That hugely important question needs to be clarified, as do many other questions that we have about the Bill, which we will come to in other sections.
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