Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I look forward to a debate on registration fees for third level colleges, an issue raised by other Senators. We are all familiar with the famous photograph which will become infamous from here to eternity of the Minister and then Deputy Quinn signing a pledge not to raise fees. It was a little like the Treaty of Limerick in that not only was the ink not dry but before he picked up the pen he knew he could not stand by the pledge. The €250 increase in registration fees will not be allocated to the colleges as it is a tax that the Government will put in its back pocket and use for other purposes, including paying special advisers.

While previous speakers raised the issue of Europe, no one is talking about democracy. The issue has not been raised by our Government or any of the other European Union governments. The European population is being forced into a united states of Europe against its will, as was clear when the treaty of Nice was rejected in France, the Netherlands and Ireland and the treaty of Lisbon was rejected here. We are being placed in a position in which the Germans and powers-that-be in Brussels will essentially run the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is ironic that if I was to tell people in County Kerry and throughout the country on this, the anniversary of the signing of the treaty of 1921, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Westminster will have oversight of the Irish budget from here to eternity-----