Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Senator Donohoe mentioned the Lisbon treaty. It is extraordinary that on the Order of Business we have, again, a number of issues concerning European legislation. They came into this House, were referred to committee without debate, came back from committee and now the Leader has them on the Order of Business. Motions on the European evidence warrant and on judgments in absentia are two important pieces of legislation that will not be debated in this House. I repeat what I said before, that the Leader seems determined that this House will not have a role to play in scrutinising EU legislation and being informed about EU legislation. The framework agreement to deal with the issues that have been raised during the Lisbon treaty debate and referendum was a very important decision of the European Council last week. What is to be welcomed is that this is a sign that Europe is prepared to respond on each and every issue that is raised by the Government.

All this time, all we have are the issues. The Government has not put to its colleagues in Europe the way in which those issues can be resolved and the formulation that is required. We still have only a framework agreement. It is regrettable the Taoiseach seems determined to go alone on this. It is the same as in the first Lisbon debate where he played party politics with this issue. There is no effort made to engage the political parties in these Houses nor the political leaders outside.

When the bank guarantee was introduced we raised the issue of recapitalisation as being a prerequisite for the banks to get on a sounder footing and play their role in the economy. It was denied by the Minister for Finance that this was necessary and, slowly but surely, we wait for the crisis to happen. Now the decision has been taken to allocate money from the National Pensions Reserve Fund. What is proposed? The Minister has said to the banks, "Come back to me with your ideas", which is a bit rich at this stage. The banking system has been frozen for the past four months. The Houses of the Oireachtas will be in recess soon and there will be no debate in these Houses in January on these issues. Once again, the Minister is playing for time. Senator Alex White referred to the fact that the Taoiseach will meet the social partners about the economic recovery programme. I suggest he is meeting the social partners for ideas because it does not appear that either the Minister or the Taoiseach have their own ideas as to how we will get out of this economic and banking crisis.

On the issue raised very eloquently by Senator Norris about the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission, we live in hard times and in recessionary times, but we should not forget the basic principles with which we have to comply to ensure that people who are discriminated against or ill treated are given a fair deal. The Equality Authority, the Irish Human Rights Commission and these other bodies which have a vital role to play not only in overseeing these issues but also in implementing our international obligations, whether they be United Nations, Council of Europe or European Commission——