Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his very thoughtful engagement on the amendments, as well as throughout this process. To be clear, my amendment does not relate to the Covid conditional credit line. The general escape clause was needed. If we have a stability mechanism where a general escape clause is needed, that raises questions regarding the functionality of that mechanism. However, my concern does not relate to those that do not need it. The problem is that fiscal criteria for fiscal health are being set in order to be able to qualify for it. That is the concern. The concern is that there is a need to hit certain debt-to-spending ratios, the same kinds of criteria that countries were required to meet in order to access the safety net. It is not about the countries in good financial health being excluded; the concern is that the countries that might need or have needed this precautionary credit line the most - not the Covid particular credit line but the general precautionary credit line - will not qualify for it, particularly now because the idea is that it is a pre-qualification to get near the safety net of that precautionary conditional credit line. The argument was made that it was political because of the political impact of having these criteria attached after the fact. It is a problem if there is something that several countries may need but cannot qualify for and access and the only way around that is a general escape clause.

There is a concern relating to the Annex III criteria the Minister mentioned in terms of their amendments and change. I am not suggesting that the board of governors would have to consult Ireland on every decision it makes. The specific aspect I was speaking to relates to where there is a change in the eligibility criteria for ESM precautionary financial assistance and amendments to Annex III. Even in a situation where emergency or other decisions are being made in a short timeline or at short notice, there is nothing to preclude the inclusion of a provision for them to be reviewed. That is a matter that could be considered on Report Stage or as the Bill progresses through the Dáil. It is normal to build reviews into legislation and to recognise that situations arise where decisions may need to be reviewed. That would be appropriate.

I welcome the Minister's indication that where the board of governors is making a decision, it is his expectation that there would be engagement with the joint Oireachtas committee. That is important. These are significant decisions. In terms of the balance of what I have put forward, I am not attempting to pre-empt what might emerge from the process on the review of economic governance or the Conference on the Future of Europe.It is appropriate - this happens all the time with legislation - to build in review points and points where it can be anticipated there will be a review. We know this from lots of legislation, such as, for example, the two-year review built into the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act. It is quite standard practice to build in a review point, especially with legislation that is coming through in a situation where there are known unknowns and where there is a known uncertainty regarding the landscape in which that legislation will operate. In this case, the known unknowns include the economic governance review and the outcomes of the Conference on the Future of Europe. There are probably also some known unknowns regarding the impact of the climate crisis. We know we have a situation in which the landscape will change. As a result, the report is the mechanism which I can suggest be used.

I will push back a little on the Minister's suggestion that reports are not the best. For those of us in the Seanad who cannot bring forward amendments with a financial implication, for example, reports are one of the key ways in which we can identify and signal key policy issues in respect of the consequences or impact of legislation. They are an important tool at times and have been very useful. We know that, in many cases, amendments on Report Stage requiring the submission of reports on issues relating to legislation being dealt with by the House have ended up sowing the seeds of subsequent legislation that might come from Departments. There is a role for reports.

Leaving that aside, whatever one's views on reports, there is certainly a role for reviews. It would be useful if, perhaps, in this Bill's journey through the Dáil consideration was given to making a commitment to carry out a review on what position Ireland will take. We will go further into the positions Ireland might take on the economic governance review in our next set of amendments. I will not anticipate the debate in that regard. On both the issue of a situation whereby a number of countries do not meet the qualifying criteria of the precautionary condition credit line, or a situation where the board decides to amend Annex III, even if those happen at short notice, we could build in a mechanism whereby the Oireachtas will engage with the Minister, or any subsequent Minister, on what position Ireland will take. That might be six-month review or it may be a matter of a decision needing to be made. If it is an emergency decision, or one taken in an emergency context, it is all the more important that it is reviewed and gets proper scrutiny.

We need these mechanisms for healthy countries with healthy finances and so on because it is vitally important that we have solidarity between countries. We are focusing on the Stability and Growth Pact mechanisms, but their overall thrust and goal, and that of the legislation, is to have a mechanism that functions in the context of solidarity. The reason each country's health matters to the others is that we are connected globally but, very specifically, we are connected within the European Union and in the context of economic and monetary union. We are deeply interdependent. There have been failures of solidarity in the past, which have had consequences that may not always have come out on the balance sheets of the economy, but have come out socially and through situations of political instability. In that regard, it is in everybody's interest, no matter what the health of any country is, that the safety net works for a majority of members to whom it is meant to apply.