John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is bizarre to hear a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach and a Fianna Fáil Minister of State stand up here again today to try to defend what is indefensible in terms of the deal that has been brought back from Europe. It is no surprise that the last Fianna Fáil Taoiseach to go to Europe to try to strike a deal came back with the troika. We now have our own troika here of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party going to Europe and coming back with this deal, which is ultimately a bad deal for workers, families, farmers and Ireland overall.

I would like to put several questions to the Minister. The exploratory document the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union issued to the various delegations following the meeting clearly stipulates that the issuance of funds will be dependent on the provision of recovery and resilience plans. The document also states that these plans will be assessed within two months of submission to the EU. The extensive cuts to the fund when compared with its original guise mark the failure to reverse the overall cut to direct payments. We touched on those cuts here. No matter how much spin the Minister of State and the Taoiseach try to put on it, the original proposal for the rural development budget was cut by €7.5 billion. That is a fact. The Common Agricultural Policy budget has been cut by something like €35.2 billion from the original proposal, and the Pillar 2 fund has been cut from €15 billion to €7.5 billion. What provisions has the Government put in place and what is the timescale for drawing up the necessary plans and submitting them to the EU? When will the limited funds that will be made available to Ireland be directed to where they are actually needed?

I listened intently to a radio interview the Minister of State gave yesterday on "Morning Ireland". He seemed to have little or no information on the content of the deal. The interview was essentially an exercise in spin. He stated that we would be net contributors to this fund but he was not able to articulate the actual cost to the Irish taxpayer. Does he have the facts now? Has he spoken to the Taoiseach and the Department and informed himself? If so, he might inform us this afternoon.

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