Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé buíoch as ucht a bheith in ann labhairt ar an mBille seo anocht. Tá an Bille seo náireach. Tá sé absolutely náireach gurb é an chéad phíosa reachtaíochta atá tugtha chun tosaigh sa Dáil seo ag Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ná chun níos mó Airí Stáit agus níos mó super juniors a bheith againn, níos mó airgid a thaobh dóibh agus gurb iad seo na príomhfhadhbanna a shíleann an Rialtas atá sa tír seo. Mar a dúirt mé, tá sé náireach.

The fact that this is the first legislation that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael thought necessary to bring forward sums up the priorities of this Government. I listened to my colleague from the constituency talking about the marine and fisheries. Most of what he said is accurate. However, this Bill does not deal with those matters; it relates to additional junior Ministers. We could have a junior Minister for the marine included in the 20 who were already there. We do not need additional super junior Ministers. Indeed, not one of them will have responsibility for the marine.

What this Bill is about is very simple. It is about the first action of this Government. It is part of a grubby deal made by this Government, a deal that was struck with the Lowry Independents. It is all about lining up the plum jobs and finding out how many snouts we can get into the trough. It is tone deaf. It is not just a bad look; it is also completely and utterly wrong. It is wrong to prioritise your own interests. It is wrong to feather your own nest. It is wrong to do that while working families are struggling to get by. People are being fleeced by the ESB, in terms of electricity costs, and by insurance companies. There is no legislation on those issues. What about the section 39 workers? There is no legislation to deal with them. What about the carers who are still subject to means testing? There is no legislation to deal with them. The priority of this Government is this Bill, which increases the number of Ministers of State from 20 to 23 - the highest number in the history of this State.

The Government is not stopping there. It wants to make sure that those Ministers have more money than ever before. They will have more money than ever before because they are now going to get salaries of €160,000. In addition, €32,000 of expenses was also negotiated as part of the Lowry deal. That is not the end of it. There is then a sweetener, because the four of those special junior Ministers are going to get another bump in their salary of more than €13,000. That is what this Bill is about. What is being done is shameful, particularly in the face of the many challenges that exist.

People in my constituency today are looking at their loved ones on hospital trolleys. Individuals have phoned me from my constituency about relatives who cannot get places for children with special needs in local schools. There are those such as the person I described yesterday who is 85 years of age, who has very little money and who was left without electricity for ten days. This shows the priority of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Deputy Michael Lowry. We know what his priorities are because he has been feathering his nest for many years. This sums up exactly who the members of our Government are, what they are about and the priorities they have.

Worst of all is that this is not just a grubby deal or about snouts in the trough. What is being done is unconstitutional. There cannot be super junior Ministers. I applaud my colleague Deputy Pa Daly for taking the Government to court. Let us wait to hear what the court decides. I remember when I had to take the Fianna Fáil Government to court, when Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher was elected to the European Parliament. Because of the self-interest of the Fianna Fáil Party at that time, it refused on three occasions in this House permission on a vote to hold a by-election, leaving my constituents a year and a half without the representation to which they are entitled under the Constitution. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin and the then Government denied the constitutional rights of my constituents, but I won my case. Today, they are again subverting the Constitution. The Constitution does not allow for what they are trying to do. The grubby little deal, the attempt to have more Ministers than ever before, more super junior Ministers and more salaries for them is not just bad politics, it is not just a stroke, it is unconstitutional. What is the defence we hear from the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin? He says that the population is growing so we need more people. Does that mean that the next time when we see the population increase we are going to have 30 junior Ministers and maybe seven super junior Ministers? This needs to stop. It is being called out. We will fight this tooth and nail, and not only in this House. Thankfully, Deputy Pa Daly has taken the Government to court. We will allow the courts to decide in relation to this deal.

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