Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

It would be a very good idea if the Taoiseach came to the House because a number of issues need to be cleared up. Yesterday I raised an issue about the Minister, Deputy O'Dea, and since the Leader will not answer the question, the Taoiseach might be able to answer it. The issue raised by Senator Ross of the pay for higher civil servants should also be raised with him. The problem is not the cost of it, but the thinking behind that decision. What has been done is that since there was a cut in bonuses, the new pay reductions would not apply. That means the thinking is that the bonuses were permanent and they are now built in for the future. That is the flaw in the thinking and is the wrong approach. The Taoiseach should answer the question and explain why the Government has gone down this route. The budget and the entire Government policy in getting us out of recession has been based on fairness with everyone sharing the pain. However, because it is not being applied equally, it undermines the Government's entire policy.

There is another issue on which the Leader has not responded. When we adopted the NAMA framework legislation on 12 November, I indicated at that time that it needed to be notified to the European Commission. I asked the Leader to keep the House informed about notification. That framework legislation gave us no details about financials or haircuts. All we have is a draft business plan from last October. It is important for us to know what is going on. There are questions about the notion of including Anglo Irish Bank in the scheme and including unimpaired performing loans in the scheme. When it gave its opinion on NAMA the European Central Bank raised serious concerns about the entire pricing issue.

I wish to correct the record regarding a matter raised yesterday.