Shane Ross (Independent)

Will the Leader ask the Taoiseach to come before the House at the earliest possible opportunity? In view of the debate at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party which took place last night and about which a number of newspaper reports appeared this morning, it appears the Taoiseach is still a prisoner of the Department of Finance. The extraordinary episode we are witnessing with regard to higher paid civil servants receiving preferential treatment above everyone else is led by that Department. I did not realise - I do not know how many Members are aware of this fact - that the people to whom I refer were in receipt of bonuses for the past four or five years, a period during which the country was going to rack and ruin. Responsibility for what happened in the period to which I refer rests, in the first instance, with the person who was then Minister for Finance who happens to be the Taoiseach and those who form the permanent government, namely, the mandarins in the Department of Finance.

The central issue appears to have been both missed and lost in the emotion surrounding this episode. The question that arises is: why, in the name of God, did those to whom I refer obtain bonuses in the entire period to which I refer? I simply do not understand this. Calculations have been made and it is being stated these poor individuals are losing their bonuses. Those involved in the Department of Finance should never have received bonuses. What is needed is not a debate such as that at a muted parliamentary party meeting, at which a rebellion was quelled with a flick of the Taoiseach's hand, rather the Taoiseach must come before the House to explain how the extraordinary decision to give bonuses to those who presided over the greatest disaster in the economic history of the State was made. He must also indicate how much the people concerned were given in bonuses and outline what they did to deserve them. To state the calculation relating to pay cuts will be based on the fact that these poor individuals are losing their bonuses is absolutely absurd. The Taoiseach must come before the House to clarify the position on this entire matter. It is not acceptable that he merely explain the matter to his parliamentary party, the members of which just seemed to collapse in the face of a completely inadequate explanation.