David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is disingenuous an hypocritical of Government representatives in the House to commend themselves and talk about their courage and bravery in voting for an unfair and unjust budget while, in the same breath, saying how welcome an increase of 3% in the universal social charge on incomes over ¤80,000 would be. That provision was not in the budget. The Government had the opportunity to apply the increase but failed to do so. Instead, it cut child benefit, the respite grant and the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, and made all the other painful decisions that Labour and Fine Gael say were very tough. If they are genuine in their view that these higher taxes should be put in place, the time to do that is before the budget. It is disingenuous of Senators to commend their own bravery and courage but speak from two sides of their mouths and say they would have liked to increase tax on higher earners, when they failed to do so.

I support calls for a debate on the need for proper regulation of the banking sector. The failure of banking regulation, in this State and across Europe, led to the collapse of our banking system and to the huge debt that is on the shoulders of taxpayers of Ireland and Europe.

The failures of the European Central Bank were front and centre in this. We must be circumspect in giving more powers to the European Central Bank. Sinn Féin would support stronger and more robust supervision of our banks. We must remember, however, that the European Central Bank is the single most important impediment to this country getting a deal on our banking debt. I support the call for a debate on the banking situation, in this State and in Europe, early in the new year. It would be unreasonable to ask for the debate before the end of the year. We have only one sitting week before that.

We need to see the detail of what was agreed last night in Europe. Oireachtas Members need to have the opportunity to scrutinise what was agreed and how it will impact on the future of the banking sector in this State.