Alex White (Labour)

That is fine, if there is genuine learning. I expect clarity from Fianna Fáil in the coming weeks on whether it is acknowledging the policies that were at the heart of the Governments it led were wrong. That could open up a period of honesty in public debate on what needs to happen.

The Opposition is regularly accused of opposing everything. I look forward to my party being put to the test in the next three or four weeks. I do not claim perfection in any of our policies on the economy or public services, but they are clear and carefully thought through. I would broadly summarise them under the heading of social democratic politics. Fianna Fáil Members will sometimes claim in private that they are social democrats, but let us have a public debate on our real political options and opportunities. That can only be held if we stop attempting to look both ways at the same time because that has bedevilled politics in this country.

We will have an opportunity to deal with the details of the Bill on Committee Stage, but I respectfully express my disagreement with some of the claims the Minister made. Part of the spin on the IMF-EU deal has been a phony discussion of the issue of sovereignty. While the meaning of sovereignty in the modern world may be questioned, it is not correct for the Minister to claim there has been no impact on our sovereignty as a result of this deal. It is just ludicrous to say that or, as the Minister did, to say that if one borrows from a bank manager, one has lost sovereignty. Sovereign governments have borrowed internationally for centuries, but the fact that they borrow does not of itself mean their sovereignty is in question.

We should face up to the situation in a spirit of honesty. We have been given this borrowing facility but our budgetary, fiscal and economic policy is being determined outside this country, not by the Irish Government or Parliament. That is what is happening and we must be clear about it.