Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I dtús báire, gabhaim comhghairdeas leis as a cheapachán. Ní dóigh liom go raibh mé ag caint leis ó shin. Go maire sé a nuaíocht. I congratulate the Minister of State. I do not believe I have met him since his appointment but well done to him and I wish him well in his position.

Sinn Féin does not oppose this Bill but we hope never have to hear of it again. Thanks to an open engagement in the Dáil debate, my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, managed to secure two important amendments that safeguarded the public interest and democratic accountability within this Bill. Members must be honest about this Bill. The fact it is required at all represents a failure, almost a decade after the crash, to achieve a genuine separation of banking and sovereign debt. The banking union, as it has come together, is improvement but is not what was promised in the days and months after the people of Europe and of this State in particular suffered so much because of the banking collapses. I accept this mechanism is necessary and even sensible to cover the gap period but a more solid banking union should have been in place a long time ago. It is not hard to trace the watering-down of the separation of banking debt from the original intention to the much-diluted version with which we will end up. The Bill allows up to €1.8 billion of the Irish people's money to be used to prop up failing banks. This is a serious Bill and despite the Minister of State's comment on the need to rush it through, it deserves the full scrutiny of the Seanad. In fairness, that happened in the Dáil and I am sure it will happen in this House too.

As I stated, Sinn Féin has already secured two important amendments to this legislation. The Bill before Members does not allow the Minister to increase unilaterally the €1.8 billion that can be called upon by the State. This is because of a Sinn Féin amendment to the effect that any such change requires the approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Sinn Féin also secured an amendment stipulating that each time a Minister draws down money, he or she must report on it immediately to the Houses of the Oireachtas instead of in an annual report. A weakness remains in that, ultimately, the Minister can hand over the money without the approval of the Houses of the Oireachtas and Sinn Féin believes this situation is not ideal. I again put on record my party's discomfort with the tacking on of what essentially is another Bill to this important legislation. I acknowledge the market abuse regulations are also important in their own right.

Members should not let the issue of banking union pass without recalling one of the biggest failures of the previous Government. In 2012, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore spoke of seismic shifts and game-changers. They were talking about using the European Stability Mechanism, ESM, to recapitalise retrospectively the banks. I wonder what happened to that. I reiterate Sinn Féin does not oppose the Bill and we thank the Minister for agreeing to the important changes suggested by the party during the Dáil debate. Sinn Féin intends to consider its position on amendments before the next Stage is taken in this House.