Dáil debates
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Leaders' Questions
10:30 am
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Before the Tánaiste returns to the House to take Leaders' Questions next Thursday, 3 May, his Government, spearheaded by the Labour Party and a Labour Party Minister, will have implemented a savage attack on one parent families. One parent families with children aged 12 will no longer be eligible for the one parent family payment. These children are still in primary school and the Government will implement this change at 9 a.m. next Thursday, 3 May.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I understand the Labour Party does not want to hear this but it will vote for this today.
Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The Deputy's party ruined the country.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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A Cheann Comhairle, could I be shown the courtesy-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask Deputies to please allow the speaker the right to speak. We live in a parliamentary democracy. Deputy Fleming, please proceed without interruption. Thank you.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There will be further cuts in eight months' time on 1 January for the parents of ten year olds. These children are in fourth class. The Government is saying to children, who are in sixth class today, that if their parents apply for the one parent family payment after next Thursday, 3 May which is the date in the legislation, they will not be eligible and that they are not to be at home to mind their children when they come home from primary school. I ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, to take note of that. This is a disgrace.
The Minister for Social Protection created a smoke screen over the past week that she would like the Scandinavia model in place for 2014 for seven year olds. However, she did this to camouflage what is commencing next week in regard to under 12 year olds and under ten year olds.
By reducing the age from 14 to seven, over the next few years, the Government will be reducing the number of people in receipt of this payment from 92,000 to 46,000 people and it will be saving €0.5 billion of taxpayers' money on the back of the one parent family payment.
The second savage cut the Government is implementing-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question please.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am coming to it. The Government is cutting the payment to people in receipt of jobseeker's benefit under the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012. I am shocked that the Government has picked on people in receipt of mortgage interest supplement. It proposes to implement legislation today to give the banks and financial institutions a veto, which they never had before, in regard to people applying for mortgage interest supplement. The Government is placing legal restrictions on those people and it is doing nothing to the banks. Will the Tánaiste please explain why the Government is making these changes today?
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is because of the state the Deputy's party left the country.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The changes in the one parent family payment were first introduced by Deputy Fleming's party in 2010 when it changed the age for the lone parent payment. However, unlike this Government, his party made no provision for changes in the child care system to accompany that change. The difference on this occasion is that the changes being made in respect of the one parent payment are being accompanied by changes to child care provision. This year's Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012 contains changes so that for new recipients from May 2012, the one parent family payment will be made until the youngest child reaches the age of 12.
Many of those who raised concerns about the measures being introduced in the Bill are concerned about reducing the age to seven. The Minister for Social Protection has already made it clear that she shares these concerns without their being a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care in place.
The Departments of Social Protection and Children and Youth Affairs are already working to take a co-ordinated, cross-departmental approach to child care and after school care for the children of working parents. Those Departments have already established a sub-committee of the interdepartmental group on the single working age payment to examine the delivery of after school care and to develop an appropriate framework for this. The Department of Social Protection is providing data on the numbers of one parent family payment recipients by age of child to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs so that it can develop an information register on the number, type, cost and location of after school places available on a county basis. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is liaising with the county child care committees to examine after school care that is available and gaps in the service.
The development of the national employment and entitlements service and the profiling of jobseekers, which is under way in the Department of Social Protection, will lead to a better identification and understanding of the supports needed by individual customers to help them to get back to work and the extent to which these are available and affordable.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste made no reference to the changes the Government is making next week in regard to under 12 years olds and under ten year olds in eight months time. It is reducing the age from 14 to ten within the next eight months and no accompanying measures will be in place. The Minister for Social Protection created a very successful smoke-screen by throwing up the issue of seven year olds in 2014 so that people would be diverted and would not realise what was happening next week. The Tánaiste did not address this point. There will be no accompanying measure in respect of new applicants next week, by the 8 or by 1 January.
What have lone parents done to the Labour Party in government?
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I blame its chairman.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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What did those who are in part-time work, trying to hold onto their jobs by the skin of their teeth and in receipt of jobseeker's benefit do to justify being attacked by the Labour Party? That payment will be cut this afternoon by 30%.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In light of what the Tánaiste stated at his party conference, why is the Labour Party attacking the most vulnerable group? This afternoon, the Government will change the rules in respect of those who are in receipt of mortgage interest supplement and it will give banks a veto for the first time ever, in that a person who goes to a community welfare officer to get the mortgage interest supplement must have his or her bank's approval to do so. Some of those banks are not Irish.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I am sorry, but we have gone over time. Questions, please.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Some of them are not even regulated by the Irish regulator.
Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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What does the Deputy know about regulators?
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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What have all of these financially vulnerable people done to the Labour Party?
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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It needs a new chairman.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Government is sorting out the mess that Fianna Fáil left us.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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On the backs of these people.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Hold on, I am happy to address the question directly but I must respond to the sanctimonious claptrap which the Deputy has just uttered. Fianna Fáil left this country broke and we are trying to fix it.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The Government should take responsibility for its actions.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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We are doing this in a way that is fair and reasonable. It is manifestly untrue-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Excuse me. Given that Deputies seek the right to speak, they should listen to the reply.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Deputy's claim that the Government is not protecting the weakest is manifestly untrue. We have ensured that there is no cut in basic social welfare payments, we have removed 330,000 people from the scope of the universal social charge into which Fianna Fáil placed them and we have reversed the cut in the national minimum wage, which Fianna Fáil implemented.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Unlike Fianna Fáil, the changes that we are making in the social welfare system are accompanied by measures. In the case of lone parents, we are providing child care. In the case of the unemployed, we will implement measures to enable them to return to work. These measures are contained in Pathways to Work. Most importantly, we are making efforts to bring investment to Ireland so that jobs will be created. The best and surest way for a person to get out of poverty is-----
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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-----to get a job. This is what the Government is working to do, in that we are ensuring employment and investment.
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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What about child care?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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We will not take any sanctimonious nonsense from Fianna Fáil, which left this country broke. Fianna Fáil should spend a long time in repentance before it sticks its head up and claims that we are not addressing the problems of the people.
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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What about the mortgage interest supplement?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy McDonald.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Excuse me. I have called Deputy McDonald. Will Deputies please allow her to speak?
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Today, the troika completes its sixth review of the so-called bailout programme. I have no doubt that the Government will tell us that the main targets have been met and that the troika is satisfied with progress as we approach the programme's half-way point. No doubt the Government will tell us that all is well and rosy in the garden.
Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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We are sorry to disappoint the Deputy.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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What progress are we really making? Yesterday, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, told the finance committee that growth projections will be revised downwards yet again. Little wonder, given the wrecking ball that the Government has taken to the domestic economy. The total number of people on the dole queue is 434,800, 14.3% of the workforce, and 100,000 households are in mortgage distress, yet the Government and its friends in the troika plan to impose a further €8 billion in cuts in the next three years.
Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Could the script be circulated?
James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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We would need Deputy Ó Snodaigh for that.
Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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The printer is working well.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Perhaps the Tánaiste can tell the House whether the Government has discussed the prospect of a second bailout with the troika. Maybe he can also tell us whether it has discussed the issue of a stimulus. It has mentioned how jobs are the way out of poverty, which we accept, but if this is the case, why has the Government turned its face against stimulus?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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We have not turned our face against stimulus. This Government is in favour of stimulus for the economy.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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When the new memorandum of understanding is made available and when the announcement on the troika's review of our programme is made, Deputy McDonald will find that she has been wrong once again.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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As Deputy McDonald stated, the troika's review will make it clear that progress has been made. I expect that the review will directly address the issue of growth and its necessity for the economy. This Government has always made it clear that, in order to bring about recovery, we must get our budget situation under control, reduce the deficit and deal with the debt and considerable difficulties that we inherited from the previous Government. We must get our economy to grow.
This means two things. We must bring investment into the country. I am sure that the Deputy has read this morning's article by the IDA's chief executive in which he set out the progress the IDA has made in attracting additional jobs to the country in the past year. As soon as I leave the Chamber today, I will join him and the Taoiseach in my constituency at a plant where 100 new jobs and 350 additional construction jobs will be announced. This is evidence of the continuing attraction of jobs to Ireland.
In the chief executive's article, he made it clear that, in order for the attraction of jobs to continue, we need to pass the stability treaty, which Sinn Féin opposes. We must also get the domestic economy to grow. This Government is focused on the measures required to grow and stimulate our domestic economy and to create the jobs that are necessary to bring about recovery.
Deputy McDonald will be disappointed again because the script she pre-wrote this morning will not be followed. The troika's review will address the necessity of economic growth.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Will there be a second bailout? It will be news to the hundreds of thousands of people on the dole queues that progress is being made. It will certainly be news to lone parents upon whom the Government is imposing cutbacks. The Tánaiste is sticking to his own script in that regard.
The Tánaiste claims that the Government is in favour of growth, yet it pursues a policy of austerity. I asked him a direct question, namely, whether he believed we were facing into a second bailout. I asked him whether the Government had discussed the matter with the troika. I would like him to answer my questions.
Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Sinn Féin is determined to close us down for a second bailout.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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If the State faces that prospect, will it have access to funding-----
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Labour)
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Not if Sinn Féin gets its way.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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-----irrespective of the people's vote on the Government's austerity treaty? Will the Tánaiste confirm whether it falls within the Government's gift to exercise a veto and ensure that no funding mechanism at European level is designed in such a way as to block out Ireland?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy. We are over time.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste knows as well as I do that the bailout fund cannot come into existence without its ratification by this State. In the absence of any positive argument for cutbacks and austerity, the Government cynically chooses to scaremonger.
Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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What about those leaflets?
Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That was scaremongering.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Answer the question.
Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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There is no question to answer.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy McDonald has gone over time.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Set the record straight today and tell the people the full authority that the Government has on this matter. Are we looking at a second bailout? Reassure the House that the Government will ensure that the State has access. That is in the Government's gift, as he well knows.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Deputy McDonald has a hard neck to ask me to set the record straight. Her party published a leaflet selectively quoting economists who support the treaty to give the impression they are opposing it.
Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Can the Tánaiste remember the day before yesterday?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Let me answer Deputy McDonald's question directly. She asked whether we have discussed a second bailout with the troika. The answer to that is "No". We are pursuing -----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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That is what the last Government said.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Do you mind, Deputy Tóibín?
Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Labour)
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Will you listen to the truth?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Our intention is to get out of the programme. We plan to be out of the programme within two years and we are on track and on target. The report from the troika will confirm that. I am confident we will achieve our targets but there are things that can blow us off-course.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Like the Government's policies.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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One of these would be if the people of Ireland takes the Deputy's twisted advice and votes against the stability treaty.
Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste's own members in SIPTU are opposed.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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What about planet Earth?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Does Deputy McDonald mind asking her backbenchers to stay quiet?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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We can get out of this programme provided there is continuing confidence in this country. We believe that confidence will be maintained in circumstances where the people of this country approve the stability treaty, ensure stability around the euro and assure investors this is a good country in which to invest and create jobs.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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On the other hand, if the people of Ireland follow the Deputy's advice, from which she adduces in a twisted way -----
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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On a point of order, I object to the personal insults the Tánaiste is throwing across the floor.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is a political debate.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To refer to another Member as "twisted" -----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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That is not a point of order.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I can only deduce that the Tánaiste -----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please resume your seat.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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----- does not want to answer my question.
Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The answer is "No".
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask the Deputy to respect the Chair and resume her seat.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am not going to sit here to be insulted.
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It was a statement of fact.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is a political debate. We are way over time.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I have never personally insulted anybody in this House.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is a personal attack to refer to somebody as "twisted".
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I did not refer to the Deputy as "twisted" but the content of the leaflet she produced is twisted.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The economic quotes were correct.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The advice she is now trying to sell that somehow the Irish people can reject this treaty while being able to access emergency funding is twisted and misleading.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is the truth.
Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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A bad day at the office.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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He is wearing a lovely new shirt this morning.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Under the influence of austerity the European economy plunged back into crisis this week. The chorus of opposition to Angela Merkel's austerity treaty has increased, with unions and governments across Europe, including some of the Tánaiste's former comrades in the Irish trade union movement, have come out against the treaty on the basis that the austerity required would be disastrous. The Government stands almost alone with Angela Merkel in continuing to promote this treaty as a good thing.
In that context, the Taoiseach stated yesterday that the citizens of this country should have access to every piece of available information on the fiscal treaty prior to the referendum. That commitment is hard to credit given that the Government has hidden the troika away from the press and Opposition precisely because it might make comments that will upset the citizens. If the Taoiseach's commitment is a serious one, what will it cost the State to meet the treaty's targets for 2015 and beyond in regard to reducing the debt to 0.5% and the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60%? I will be helpful in this regard. The Central Bank quarterly bulletin for April indicates that our GDP is €162 billion. Our debt-to-GDP ratio is due to reach 120% by 2014, which means a national debt of €200 billion. Reducing that to 60% would require us to halve our national debt -----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question please.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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----- to €100 billion and one twentieth of that equates to €5 billion per year in cuts over 20 years in order to pay down the debt, on top of whatever cuts are necessary to meet the deficit targets.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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What is the Deputy's question? He is over time.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Are those figures correct and, if not, can the Tánaiste -----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please resume your seat. You are way over time.
Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Bring back Deputy Joe Higgins.
Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Bring back the fellow with the guitar.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is a serious issue. Please show respect to the Deputy asking the question as well as the person who tries to reply.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Deputy Boyd Barrett is correct that the country is substantially indebted and faces a large deficit. Treaty or no treaty we will have to reduce that deficit because the only way we can at present bridge the gap between what we are taking in and what we are spending is by borrowing. In order to borrow we have to find people who will lend to us. Since the previous Government put us into the EU-IMF programme nobody in the private financial markets will lend to this country. We have to get the money to pay wages and social welfare payments and keep the schools and hospitals open through the programme that has been agreed with the EU and the IMF. Over time the new European Stability Mechanism will come into play. We hope we will not need to access it but it is an important safety net or insurance policy. For these reasons it is important that we pass the treaty to access the emergency funding. If we do not have access to that kind of borrowing we will have to make huge cuts in pay, social welfare payments and the services we provide to our people.
The Government's objective is to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over time by growing the economy. That is what happened in the 1990s. Between 1991 and 2000 the country's debt to GDP ratio was reduced from 95% to 35% even though the actual size of the borrowings in monetary terms increased from £36 billion to £40 billion. That was possible because the economy grew. This is why the Government's strategy is, on the one hand, to ensure discipline in our budgets and prudent management of the public finances in order to reduce our deficit and, on the other, to grow the economy by attracting investment to create jobs and by pursuing a growth strategy.
11:00 am
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The claim that we are likely to grow our way out of this recession is a fairy tale given the current economic climate and the figures available to us.
The latest victim of the austerity and the crisis in Europe is our biggest trading partner, Britain, which has dipped further into recession-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question please and not statements.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----following on EUROSTAT figures and purchasing manager index figures that show the European economy contracting. I ask the Tánaiste to answer the question I put to him. What will be the cost to the State according to the figures that are available to us now in terms of the size of our GDP and the projected size of our national debt in 2015 when we are due to exit the programme?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The estimates in the public domain suggest that it will require €5 billion annually in cuts to meet the debt-to-GDP ratio targets and approximately €5 billion to €6 billion in cuts to meet the deficit targets after 2015.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That level of cutting and austerity would devastate our economy and further devastate our society. I ask the Tánaiste to give us the figures because those figures are damning-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----and will mean a generation of austerity which will cripple the country.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The figures are the figures that are in the EU-IMF programme. That programme will remain in place irrespective of the treaty. The EU-IMF programme we are in takes precedence. The text of the treaty makes it clear that programme countries, such as Ireland, remain in the programme until they exit it. There is no change in the figures for the debt-to-GDP ratio in the treaty. We are committed to getting the debt-to-GDP below 60%, which was always the rule in respect of our membership of the euro. As I said earlier-----
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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What will it cost?
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The treaty states-----
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Deputy should bear with me for a minute.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would the Deputy mind listening to the reply?
Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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The Deputy should take his lesson.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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That is reduced by getting the economy to grow. In order to get the economy to grow, there needs to be confidence in it, particularly on the part of investors. I am sure the Deputy will join me in welcoming 100 jobs that Amgen is announcing in our constituency today.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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There are net job losses.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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We need to maintain confidence in the economy-----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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By ripping money out of it.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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-----so that investors will invest in the economy, create jobs and get the economy to grow.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Tánaiste is not answering the question.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I am answering the question.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The figures we have to achieve are the targets in the programme and we are meeting those targets. We reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by getting the economy to grow, which is why the Government's strategy is to get economic growth and get investment into the country. We do that by ensuring that those investors who are thinking about investing in Ireland have confidence in Ireland, the euro and-----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Recession is causing all this.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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-----in our economy. That is why it is important in the interests of investor confidence that the treaty is passed.