Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I have no doubt the Minister has feelings of horror like we have and like he expressed. My difficulty is that he is demonstrating a classic case of cognitive dissonance because he holds beliefs in his head that are clashing with each other. While his feelings are the same as ours, his actions are different. In doing those actions, he seeks to rationalise them, which is the classic way of resolving cognitive dissonance. The Minister does that in the way he talks about the independence of the bank, which I will come back to.

I wish to say something that Deputy Coppinger referred to. The Minister talked about the absolute abhorrence of the death and destruction being visited on the civilians of Gaza. That sentence, which was contained in a carefully crafted speech of 1,279 words, is like something out of the Bible. Nothing is being visited on them. Israel, and the Israeli army, are committing genocide. Absolutely nowhere in his speech did the Minister say that. There is nothing being visited on them. Genocide is being perpetuated. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have finally said that.

With regard to the Central Bank, of course it is independent. It is not independent of the law, however. It is not independent of the Central Bank law that obliges it to comply with EU law. The Minister referred to one article but he did not balance that. Who is advising the Governor of the Central Bank? Is it the Minister himself or some Department? What advice is being given? How are the competing articles in the EU being balanced? Can we see how they are being balanced? What about the staff in the Central Bank? What is the morale like in the Central Bank at the moment? I gather it is at an all-time low and that the Governor of the Central Bank is nowhere to be seen.

In respect of the bonds not being renewed in September, that is the least we could do. More importantly, the word “complicit” absolutely applies because we are not only allowing the Central Bank to function independently when this should not be lawful, but we are also buying the bonds. We are actually buying the war bonds. The Minister knows that. I have the answer. I received a reply. Over €2 million has been directly invested by the NTMA and the ISIF in war bonds. If that does not equal complicity, I do not know what that word means. The Minister's carefully crafted speech is absolutely a working-out of cognitive dissonance. It does not match the feelings of horror he has expressed today.

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