Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that the House debate the EU-IMF bailout today and that the Minister for Finance would come to the House for the debate. This is the Upper House of the Oireachtas and it is incumbent on us to debate this matter and either oppose or pass it by vote of the House.

I also ask for the Minister for Finance to come to the House today. As Senator Fitzgerald said, the Christmas bonus payment for social welfare recipients was stopped and today it is reported in the newspapers that a bonus culture exists within the public sector at the higher and upper level. Can the payment of this bonus be justified at a time when the country is in an economic recession and when the House yesterday passed one of the most severe Bills ever, the Social Welfare Bill? It is extraordinary that the Department of Finance, the Department that got it so wrong with every single figure and which has presided over the demise of our financial institutions and our economic wellbeing, sees its officials being rewarded. Like Senator Healy Eames I ask why they are being rewarded.

The Deputy Leader in his contribution on the Social Welfare Bill suggested a debate on reform of the political class. Like Senator Boyle I believe the Minister did not go far enough in the budget. He did not inflict a severe enough pay cut on all of us. Ministers and the Taoiseach can afford to take a pay cut far more than can the ordinary citizen and so also can Members. The Government did not do enough in this regard and I would like to know why.