SEANAD REPORT:A FINE Gael member said she regarded as rubbish the idea that there should be a cross-party consensus on how the country's economic plight should be addressed.

Nicky McFadden said it was criminal what the Government had done. “I am not taking collective responsibility. I rubbish this consensus because it is not fair.”

She really resented a member of Fianna Fáil’s Government partners, Dan Boyle (Green Party), calling for a consensus. She appreciated that the country was in a very serious situation and she hoped that, in particular, measures would be put in place to prevent people losing their homes.

Alex White (Lab) said there could be no consideration of agreement to a particular course of action until it was known what course was actually being proposed. He understood there now appeared to be less certainty about the figure of €15 billion in relation to the four-year adjustment. He accepted that the Government was dealing with a fluid situation. “But please do not apply a demand for certainty to the Opposition which you do not apply to Government.”

Mr Boyle said that EU commissioner Olli Rehn had stressed the need for consensus. Consensus was about putting forward suggestions on how problems could be dealt with collectively. That was what we were lacking in our political system at present, he said.

Ivana Bacik (Lab) said there was no consensus on a definition of consensus. She was worried the Government’s view was that the Opposition should roll over, accept whatever measures were proposed and abstain from voting.