Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

If I had been asked I would have said exactly the same thing. It had not been approved at any stage by Government and until it was approved it was not under way.

Senator O'Toole made a point about the Fianna Fáil leadership. I have absolute confidence in the Taoiseach, Deputy Cowen, as leader of the party and leader of the country.

His final point related to the minimum wage. I was Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs when the previous three increases were made to the national minimum wage so I am very familiar with the process and with the arguments that were put forward at that time. When the final increase was recommended by the Labour Court major concerns were raised even at that time to the effect that the proposed increase was excessive. The case was made strongly to me by a number of interests. I was so concerned that I commissioned a report from the Economic and Social Research Institute which to a considerable extent supported the recommendation of the Labour Court. I went ahead and altered it by doing it in two stages over a longer period. The reality at this point is that virtually all employers, especially those who employ people at the lower end of the wage spectrum, are saying clearly that the level of the minimum wage as it stood was a disincentive to employment. They were also concerned at the difficulty created by the connection between the minimum wage and levels in other employments. For that reason it has been decided to reduce the minimum wage in an attempt to improve the level of employment.

Senator Cassidy outlined a number of points which I might have dealt with. I will deal with different ones for that reason. Senator Twomey raised the issue of sovereignty, which was also raised by Senator Ross. I have not heard anyone explain how no loss of sovereignty was involved in the decision to join the eurozone, which put an end to our own currency and the independence it brought. Neither was there any loss of sovereignty whatsoever in receiving billions of euro in European grants or in engaging in exactly the same level of borrowing on the markets we are engaging in with European institutions and the IMF.