Brendan Ryan (Labour)

In my home city, the flagship project of the European Capital of Culture 2005 has been put on the long finger because the Department of Finance was worried about the European Stability and Growth Pact. As a result we will not have a school of music by 2005 because the Department of Finance, led by its political master, decided it would be too great a risk. The same Minister then goes to Europe and votes for the exact opposite. That confirms my view that the Minister for Finance will always capitulate to the rich at the expense of the poor. He will take €65 million from the poor of this State to maintain our discipline within the Stability and Growth Pact while allowing the Germans and the French to borrow sufficient to make sure their poor will not suffer in the same way as the poor here.