Seanad report: The decision by the Minister for Finance not to vote to penalise France and Germany for their non-adherence to the European Growth and Stability Pact could have been based on a desire by Mr McCreevy to permit himself room for manoeuvre, the leader of the House, Ms O'Rourke said. "I don't know if it's true, but it strikes me that it may well be that."
Ms O'Rourke said she would ask the Minister to address the issue when he attended for a debate on the Book of Estimates today.
Calling for a statement by the Minister today, Mr Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, said it was a disgrace that the two largest economies within the euro zone should display flagrant abuse of the pact. The Euro ministers' decision would result in an escalation of interest rates here, which would have a devastating effect on those with variable mortgages.
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said he was sorry that Mr McCreevy had not voted against what was being termed a re-interpretation of the pact. "I don't see why he should have to put up with it. He had to listen to enough nonsense from them last year. He could at least have put the boot in this time and he would have been quite in order to do so."
Mr Brendan Ryan (Lab) said the planned Cork School of Music, which was meant to have been the flagship project for the European Capital of Culture in 2005, had been on the long finger because the Department of Finance was worried about the pact. "We will not have a School of Music in time for that because the Department, led by Mr McCreevy, has decided that that would be too big a risk. Yet the same Minister goes and votes for the exact opposite in Europe."
Mr Ryan said the Minister would take €65 million off the poor people of this country to maintain our discipline within the pact, but he would allow the French and the Germans to borrow enough to ensure that their poor would not suffer.