Seanad debates

Thursday, 2 December 2010

EU-IMF Programme for Ireland: Statements

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Alex WhiteAlex White (Labour)

It is true that a majority of the people who are often invoked in this House believe in the future of the country and our collective ability to turn things around. However, the problem is that the people have been let down by the Government. In all of their positiveness and hope for the future, they were told things about the banking crisis which were manifestly untrue.

I accept there is room for argument over the questions of sovereignty and whether we were made an offer we could not refuse, but there can be no argument about whether the Government's banking strategy has failed. From the moment the guarantee was given, through the various promises that the banks were beginning to lend again, we were given repeated assurances that were later demonstrated to be untrue. This does not necessarily lead me to suggest the Government told untruths in every instance. In most cases, I do not believe the promises were known to be untrue. However, this should not distract us from the fact that by resorting to this programme, the Government is demonstrating that its banking strategy has failed.

The Minister of State has stated it is absolutely clear we cannot afford to refuse the assistance offered. I will not indicate the catastrophe of the presentation of the matter two weeks ago, other than to note that the Government's statements have changed, from asserting that the assistance was not necessary and not being sought to claiming it is absolutely clear that we cannot afford to refuse it. These extremes go to the heart of the Government's problem with legitimacy. It engaged in denials and misrepresentations of its position for too long to expect the people, given their intelligence and desire to protect their livelihoods, to accept a volte face over the course of a weekend.

The National Pensions Reserve Fund is another example of the problem. If any Senator had suggested in the House last week that we should hand over the fund in a further attempt to rescue the banking system, one can only imagine the reception he or she would have received. This is a high level version of turning out our pockets for change.

My understanding of negotiations is that they involve opposing parties of approximately equal strength. It appears, however, that the Government did not negotiate in the true sense of the word. What leverage did we have to counter the demands made? What strengths did the Government seek to invoke? Unless I can be persuaded otherwise, it appears we merely imparted information to the other side on our true position before signing the document. How can this arrangement be described as a deal? A deal suggests give and take. What was given and what was taken?

The Minister of State's comment on senior bondholders was yet another example of how the Government's word play underestimated the people's intelligence. Professor Honohan used a wonderful phrase when he said there was "no enthusiasm" for such a proposal in the ECB or the European Commission, although the IMF might have held a different view. The Minister of State has stated the matter was certainly raised in the course of negotiations but that the unanimous view of the ECB and the Commission was that such a programme would not be possible. I do not want to be overly legalistic, but I ask him whether it was proposed by the Government.

It was raised but who raised it? I presume the Irish Government raised it. I want to know if it was proposed in the course of the so-called negotiations or did somebody say it out of the side of his or her mouth? What would the story be if we were to introduce some element of reality regarding what we do in respect of the senior bondholders? Was it proposed and rejected? The Irish people are entitled to know that.

This document is replete with undertakings of all kinds, to which other people have referred in respect of the rigorous level of scrutiny required. People have said it involves no loss of sovereignty. We could have a long debate on what precisely is the nature of sovereignty in our modern world, particularly for us as members of the European Union. I freely accept that we have knowingly and openly pooled our sovereignty through our membership of the European Union, the other institutions and so on. When people claim that our sovereignty - even if I were to call it our residual sovereignty or sovereignty that we still have not pooled - has been undermined by this document, I do not believe for one second that such a claim is an exaggeration. When have we in our history given undertakings regarding budgetary policy which we intend to introduce in Parliament over four years, or when can we point to such occasions in the history of other modern democracies? Nothing is said about the quarterly, monthly and, in some cases, weekly involvement of the institutions in requiring certain information and so on from the Irish Government on behalf of the Irish people.

I want to draw closest attention to another issue. There is an ongoing debate on the constitutionality issue and I would be interested in engaging in it on another occasion. One thing that sticks out a mile in this document is that the Government, not the Oireachtas, has done this on behalf of the Irish people because the Oireachtas is not being asked to vote on this document. It is not the property of the Oireachtas; it is the property of the Government. How can a Government of which Minister of State is a member or any other give so many undertakings about legislation? Legislation is something the Oireachtas passes the last time I checked. The Government gets to introduce and sponsor it and if it has a majority, it gets the legislation through. Constitutionally, our Government does not decide on legislation; it is these Houses that decide on it.

I have circled at least six, seven, eight or more occasions in the course of this document where we have undertaken to introduce and enact legislation. That, for me, puts a serious question over the constitutionality of what is being done. Even if it does not offend the Constitution immediately, it is a grossly serious undertaking for a Government to make on behalf of the Parliament to which it is accountable, that the Parliament not only now will introduce legislation but will do so next year, the year after and the year after that. These are actual undertakings for enactments to be passed by these Houses. That is an incredibly serious aspect of this document-----

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