Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I, too, call for a debate on the recommendation of the Fiscal Advisory Council. The council produced only one previous report to the Government. Prior to the budget it suggested cuts of €4.8 billion, which the Government rejected out of hand. The council is now saying there should not be a referendum on the forthcoming intergovernmental treaty. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, has embraced this advice, which suits the Government's agenda.

It is sensible that such fiscal constraint should not be written into the Constitution but should be dealt with by way of legislation. However, the Fiscal Advisory Council is not addressing the transfer of democratic power to the EU in the forthcoming treaty. While it is all well and good to talk about budgetary measures, and sensible that Ireland would retain control of our own budgetary situation in terms of borrowing money when we get back into the market, transferring democratic powers to Europe and allowing EU oversight, as the Bundestag had oversight of our budget, is another matter.