Mica redress legislation
Deputy Pringle challenged the sliding scale in the mica scheme and argued it could not be called 100% redress. The Tánaiste said the legislation to put the mica scheme on a statutory footing was priority legislation and would come this session, likely before Easter.
On the mica redress scheme, it is seven weeks since I stood here to ask the Tánaiste to explain where the dubious sliding scale came from. On that day the Tánaiste said he reckoned that it was a sensible one. He may still hold to that thinking but he cannot continue to call it a 100% redress scheme and stand over the sliding scale at the same time. It is irrational and completely disingenuous of him. The people of Donegal are not fools and I ask that he stop the spin. I have asked a number of parliamentary questions of the Minister responsible for this issue but he fails to provide an adequate answer either. Seven weeks later, his Department has yet to release the records under the Freedom of Information Act on the issue either. This gives me the impression that the calculation was written on the back of an envelope at the very last minute in the Cabinet and rubber-stamped. There is a stench from it.
Can the Tánaiste give me a definitive timeline for when the Government will publish the mica legislation and will he commit to consigning the nonsensical sliding scale to the bin of bad ideas?
