Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is not a great deal to this Bill on paper. There are only two sections to it. In relation to super junior Ministers, rather than saying “appoint not more than 20 persons” it states “appoint not more than 23 persons". Rather than “not more than 3 specified holders of the office of Minister of State who regularly attend meetings of the Government” it states “not more than 4 specified holders of the office of Minister of State who regularly attend meetings of the Government”. It does not say a great deal on paper, but it says a great deal in the context of the tone it sets at the beginning of the lifetime of this new Government. What it says is that there will be more Mercs and perks and more jobs for the boys. The arrogance it shows can be seen in wasting more money on Government pay. What they are doing is casting lots for our clothing.

As has already been intimated, there are genuine concerns about whether the Bill is constitutional and whether 19 members can sit at Cabinet. There are also issues in respect of Cabinet confidentiality. We will await the outcome of the High Court decision and maybe beyond that, depending on what decision is reached. Arrogance was displayed in the immediate aftermath of the formation of the Government in the context of the decision on Government and Opposition speaking time. The fact that said decision had to be reversed was a bad start. What happened was not surprising. Many of deals of this type have been done in the past, going back to the 1990s and even before that. Perhaps the arrogance has reached a new level when it comes to dealing with Deputy Michael Lowry and his grubby deal. Rather than dealing with the issues that arose during the most severe storm in living memory, Government members decided to give themselves a week off.

When they came back, the first thing they did was to introduce legislation that is designed to give them more money. Then they lied about the housing figures, or maybe they are "ag insint bréag" because apparently they did not say that. They are kidding nobody. They are waiving pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill, taking all Stages in the Dáil on the same day and applying a guillotine. This is a very bad start by the Government. Over the weekend, we heard there would be tax breaks for large property owners and institutional landowners. They are the priorities of this Government as they were the priorities of the previous two or three Governments. Do we really need more units that will cost €3,000 per month to rent?

In the context of the reference in the programme for Government to the town centre first approach and the Government policy of promoting town centres, I wish to raise the sale of the An Post depot adjacent to Tralee courthouse. I appeal to the Minister, who will be dealing with the financial issues relating to this to talk to the Courts Service about reconsidering the refurbishment of the courthouse and to consider freeing up space at the Denny site. A small bit of extra money will reap huge dividends. We oppose this Bill and reject it completely.

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