Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I second the amendment proposed by Senator Hannigan to the Order of Business. I am pleased that reality is dawning and that we will see the proposed monitoring and oversight from the European Union. We all agree that this is far preferable to having the IMF here running the country in place of whoever was in government. Sooner or later the question of a mandate will arise and the issue must be clarified. However, we are spending €19 billion more than we are receiving, which is total madness. It is crazy that this is happening now. We should have been dealing with the issue before now. However, we must deal with it and the more the cuts can be front-loaded in what will be the first of a series of four budgets the better. Let us consider what we will be adding to the burden of the national debt and the great increases we have witnessed in recent times in the cost of servicing our borrowings. This is total madness, which must be brought to a halt immediately. We look forward to that happening. That is the correct approach for us to take.

The Croke Park agreement comes into play because we are not getting value for money throughout the Civil Service. As I stated last week - others have vouched for this also - there is an issue in the monitoring of the activities of Departments. I understand Ministers do not sit in on management committee meetings. However, Departments lack co-ordination within, never mind among one another. We all know about certain turf wars and the carry-on of civil servants who are supposed to be serving the State like the rest of us. This is abhorrent. A national cop-on is required urgently. We need to deal with the matter immediately.