As the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is aware, a resolution on the question of Palestine's nationhood is being debated at the United Nations General Assembly. When the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade was appointed, he said he would lead the charge in recognising Palestine's full statehood. When the late Brian Lenihan was Minister for Foreign Affairs, he supported the request of the Palestinian people for statehood on behalf of the Irish people. It is disappointing that the United States has apparently decided to veto the Palestinian bid. It is even more disappointing that the Tánaiste appears to be supporting President Obama's stance on the issue. He is saying there should be re-engagement between Palestine and Israel. I ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to outline clearly why the Tánaiste has changed his thinking.
Leaders’ Questions
It is like the change in the thinking of the Deputy and his party leader.
What is the Government's position on this matter?
The Government's position has been stated. It supports an independent, sovereign Palestinian state. That view was reiterated by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in the United States as recently as yesterday. The Tánaiste is due to address the United Nations General Assembly on Monday when he will set out a comprehensive statement on Ireland's position on this and other matters, including international peace and the Irish initiative on hunger. Negotiations are ongoing on foot of Palestine's application for recognition. As I said, Ireland supports the position that there should be a Palestinian state. We are working in concert with our European colleagues to try to find unanimity in achieving this objective.
Will we be voting in favour of recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly? It seems it would be inconsistent, in the light of this country's history, if we were to fail to do so.
Hear, hear.
When we were seeking international recognition of the Republic, certain people refused to recognise it. I remind the Minister of the strong words of his party's presidential candidate, my former constituency colleague, Mr. Michael D. Higgins, on this matter.
At least the Labour Party has a candidate.
I do not doubt that Mr. Higgins would be able to advise his party colleagues on the need to take a strong and independent stance on the issue.
He loves you, too.
I seek clarification on whether Ireland will vote in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution that the statehood of Palestine be recognised. A "Yes" or a "No" would be a helpful response.
I join the Deputy in supporting Michael D. Higgins who has——
I thought the Labour Party had cut him adrift.
——a principled position on this and many other issues.
That is unusual for the Labour Party.
Mr. Higgins has a long-standing tradition in the areas of human rights and international policy. He has informed my party's opinion on these matters for many years. It is from a related position that the Tánaiste, representing Ireland, is at the forefront in seeking to have agreement across all nations on the long-awaited international recognition of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. It is too early to say what the outcome of that process will be. I understand from New York that there is an expectation that a position acceptable to all will emerge. I hope that will happen in the next day or two.
It seems the Government does not have a position.
Last night Government Deputies voted down Sinn Féin's motion which defended the ESB as a key strategic company in public ownership. Not once but twice Labour Party Deputies in this House voted for the partial privatisation of this vital State asset. That is absolutely the case. How can the Labour Party reconcile its voting position and its stated intent in the coming months, given its clear pre-election promise, as set out in its manifesto in February this year? The manifesto stated:
Labour is committed to the concept of public enterprise, and is determined to ensure that semi-state companies play a full role in the recovery of the Irish economy. Labour is opposed to short-termist privatisation of key state assets, such as Coillte or the energy networks.
The Sinn Féin Party is privatising in the North.
There should be no doubt that by privatising the ESB, the Government is implementing the IMF-EU-ECB deal.
You voted for it.
The Labour Party denounced that deal prior to and during the course of the general election campaign in February.
You voted for it.
I am sure the Minister is well able to answer this question himself. Perhaps he might ask the cacophony in the background to leave off.
That is a new word.
Labour then pledged, let there be no mistake about it, to renegotiate the IMF-EU deal to refocus on growth——
I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin.
——and on job creation.
Another broken promise.
How can the sale of the ESB be anything other than the short termism that Labour has already condemned? In the debate on Tuesday last, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, stated——
A question, please.
——that he accepted the sale of State assets——
A right-wing party.
——was not a traditional Labour policy and that "In normal times we would probably not be proposing the sale of State assets".
Labour is a right-wing party.
The Deputy is speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin.
Can the Minister, Deputy Howlin——
The Irish Tories.
Deputy Ó Caoláin is out of time.
——explain the position that he put forward to the electorate in February?
The Irish Tories.
He stated he could not support the Sinn Féin motion because we are not living in normal times.
I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin.
Who is the Minister codding? What normal times applied in February when the Labour Party presented its manifesto commitment to the Irish electorate?
I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin.
What has changed over the six months since in which he has been in office?
I want to address full square the number of questions Deputy Ó Caoláin has posed. Let me start with the last one: what has changed in the past six months. Fundamental things have changed.
Labour's manifesto has changed.
A new Government has been elected and we have moved away from the abyss that faced the two parties on entering Government.
Hear, hear.
On the pledge we made, we have begun the renegotiation. I and other Ministers have stated repeatedly that the renegotiation of the bad deal that was struck by our predecessors in Government was not an event, but a process. We have engaged relentlessly since entering Government to renegotiate that deal, with, quite frankly, remarkable success.
Hear, hear.
They were not long burning bondholders.
In the first renegotiation——
Is it Frankfurt's way?
They do not want to hear.
Stick to Palestine, lads; it is safer.
The Minister, without interruption.
It suits some people for the country not to make progress but the Government is determined to make progress.
In the first renegotiation, we provided €500 million for a jobs initiative that is bearing fruit in the tourism sector.
We allowed an additional year, from 2014 to 2015, to reach our fiscal target of 3% debt to GDP ratio. We have begun the negotiations to ensure that any resources that might be leveraged from the sale of State assets can be used for productive purposes, which was implacably opposed by the troika in the beginning and signed off by the previous Administration that it could only be used to retire debt. In the second round of renegotiations, it was agreed with the troika that it would look on a case-by-case basis for reinvestment of any deleveraged funds from the sale of State assets to create the next generation of State jobs. To answer Deputy Ó Caoláin's second question about whether we are still in favour of using the State as a resource for job creation, the answer is "Yes". That is what we will do.
By selling them off; by selling them out.
A Deputy
Deputy Ó Caoláin sold out on the night of the guarantee.
It is the economic policy of Deputy Ó Caoláin's party to bankrupt the country, to renege on the sovereign deal done——
Reds under the bed. The Minister used to be a red.
——and to imagine that of the €18 billion deficit this year made up of €15 billion on current expenditure and €3 billion related to bank recovery, the €15 billion that we need to pay gardaí, teachers, nurses and doctors throughout the country can be generated by magic out of some place. The people are not fools, however, and they understand the fantasy of that.
Hear, hear.
Regarding the ESB, we did make a reluctant decision in terms of privatisation because that was the commitment in the memorandum of understanding, which goes well beyond the quantum agreed in the programme for Government.
They should have said it before the election.
We are seeking to have the agreement of the troika to use that for productive purposes so that it will be yet another vehicle available to us to bring the country from ruin where we found it to prosperity where we intend to leave it.
All that has changed is the names of the parties in coalition and the faces in the ministerial offices. Nothing else has changed a whit since the general election and those in power prior to it.
That is rhetoric.
The Minister has already admitted, has he not, that the IMF, the EU and the ECB want the proceeds of the sale of ESB to go into the black hole of the banking debt. He has already admitted, certainly, that the Government's alleged plan to use the proceeds to aid job creation cannot proceed without the approval of that troika.
That is correct.
Not only is the Government selling off a chunk of the ESB, it is doing so without any guarantee that the process can be put to real and productive use in terms of job creation.
Could we have a supplementary question, please?
Is it not time to admit that, once again, as has been the case historically, the Labour Party in coalition has become the limp tail of a rabid dog and that it is Fine Gael which is dictating the pace and going forward with its particular agenda——
——and the Labour Party, once again, are absolute failures in trying to put any break on Fine Gael's intent?
Tory.
Will the Labour Party admit that to the people or will it get the backbone to stand up and support the manifesto and the commitments it made six months ago to the electorate?
Deputy Ó Caoláin would be more familiar with the pedigree of the rabid dog.
Would Members give the Minister one minute to reply in quietness?
I continue to be impressed, as always, by Deputy Ó Caoláin's rhetoric, but it is completely empty.
The only thing empty were Labour's policies.
One should not treat either this House or the people as fools.
The Minister is the one who needs to look in the mirror when he makes that statement.
They know, fundamentally.
They do not want to hear.
Please allow a reply.
The problem is that we have to pay an extraordinary debt, sovereign debt brought to this nation by the previous Government and voted in this House solemnly and supported by Deputy Ó Caoláin's party.
No, not at all.
A Deputy
The bank guarantee.
Hear, hear.
Brass neck Labour.
Sinn Féin voted on the night to guarantee the banks.
No. We voted to protect ordinary citizens' savings, something that Labour was quite prepared to put at risk. Those are the facts.
Fine Gael supported it as well.
A Deputy
They are in denial.
Can we have a bit of order, please?
Deputy Ó Caoláin does not want to hear the truth. He cannot bear the truth.
Would Deputy Ó Caoláin mind his blood pressure?
Deputy Ó Caoláin cannot bear the truth but the truth is inescapable. He voted for that debt. He placed that burden on our backs.
So did the Minister's colleagues.
The Minister is the one implementing it.
The current finance spokesperson in Deputy Ó Caoláin's party voted for it in the other House and stated, in doing so, he was donning the green jersey.
We are faced with the reality. We are determined to hold strategic State assets in majority State ownership. We want to deleverage money that we cannot manufacture from thin air to create new jobs and bring hope to people.
Anglo Irish Bank.
We are not caught in blind ideology but we are determined, as I say, to bring economic prosperity——
Deputy Howlin has no ideology whatsoever. He has flushed it down the toilet. That is exactly what he has done.
——so that when we leave office we will be on an upward trajectory, not a doom trajectory.
Could I have a bit of order for Deputy Finian McGrath?
I remind the Minister, Deputy Howlin, that his colleagues in Government also supported the bank guarantee.
Is Deputy Finian McGrath going to switch again?
Who is Deputy Finian McGrath with this week?
I am always with the people.
What way is the wind?
Deputy Finian McGrath is eating into his valuable time.
The people are sovereign. I will always respect the wishes of the people.
Senator Norris is on the phone. He wants to know will Deputy Finian McGrath switch back.
I want to raise a sad and serious case of the death, on 2 February 2002, of Shane Tuohey from Derrycooley, Clara, Tullamore, County Offaly. Shane was a young turfcutter. He was 23 years old when he went missing after a night out, and was last seen at 4.20 a.m. The Garda investigation quickly concluded that foul play was not suspected and also the inquest found that he had drowned by immersion in cold water. The reason I raise this is that other evidence and major concerns have emerged about Shane Tuohey's death. The family have asked me to raise this case with the Minister. They have asked the Government, the Minister in particular, some questions and whether they will support a full investigation and inquiry of this case. Is the Minister familiar with this case and does he have any information on the background to the case? I call on the State and the Government to examine all the new evidence, especially the wealth of new evidence that has given rise to a suspicion of foul play. Shane Tuohey was verbally and physically abused by a group of men in the months before his death. Will the Minister or any new investigation find out if, as witnesses have said, the abuse continued on the night of the death and whether this is correct? Is the Minister also aware that the initial Garda report could have been more professional and that it failed to follow standard procedures in several respects? Why do they still hold on to the conclusion that Shane Tuohey's death was accidental or suicidal when there is now genuine evidence that Shane Tuohey was struck by someone or by a car door? Will the Government support a call by the family for a proper, full investigation which will include this new evidence?
I am aware of the case. The family contacted me some years ago about this matter when I was justice spokesperson of my party. They also contacted the then leader of the Labour Party and we sent a letter jointly to the Garda ombudsman calling for an investigation and outlining some of the matters the Deputy has put. It is a worrying issue and on foot of the Deputy raising it I will ask my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, to review the papers.
I wish to put on the record of the House my deepest appreciation to the Minister for his response and I know the family will be happy about that, although it is a sad case. With regard to the investigation, in that little town there is a remarkably high number of sophisticated closed circuit television, CCTV, cameras dotted throughout the town. Will the investigation find out why these tapes disappeared and where they are now? Will any investigation examine the new evidence of Gregory Davis, an American forensic pathologist, who has stated the case should remain open with the manner of death undetermined and with a strong likelihood of suicide? The Minister, Deputy Howlin, has stated he will support the family's request. I appreciate that and I hope the family will be satisfied with it.
Clearly, I am in no position to judge any of the facts and I have no wish to pre-empt any of the issues the Deputy has brought to the attention of the House. On behalf of the Government I have committed to ask my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, to review the papers and determine the next appropriate step to take.