John Gilroy (Labour)

Either Senators do not understand what they are saying or their proposals are disingenuous. As the Minister noted, three quarters of the money we are borrowing is to fund public services. The largest item of Government expenditure is the social welfare programme. Senators argue that we should not contribute €1.27 billion to access the money we need to have a guaranteed funding stream. This would place those who most need State services at greatest risk. We will be fine because we have grand salaries, those who are on social welfare, use our hospitals and attend our schools will be most disadvantaged if we do not pass this legislation. One can say what one likes about the bond market and other matters but we need funding to finance our public services. If we vote against this section, we may as well tear up the Bill.