Shane Ross (Independent)

Although €1 billion is being spent, nobody raises a hand. They are frightened of the matter because it is embedded in the political system. If we are talking about cutbacks, let us stop messing around in regard to bogus minor savings of sums that would not be spent anyway, as Senator Fitzgerald and others suggested. Let us tackle the taboos radically. Let us tackle the State agencies and ask what they are doing. Do we need to spend such sums on them? My point on making minor savings in respect of moneys that would not have be spent in any case is borne out throughout the document issued yesterday.

Yesterday this House was treated not with contempt but certainly with casualness. The Minister entered the House and read a statement, the facts of which were all in the public arena already. They were all in the newspapers yesterday. Why does this happen? There is another taboo at work, on which I request the Leader to have a debate in the autumn. Nobody really cares about what we say about the economy. Members of all parties have surrendered power to the social partners and have done so willingly.