Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I commend my party colleagues on tabling this motion, particularly the new finance spokesman, Deputy Noonan. When he said at the weekend that it was time to sack the bankers - the people who caused the problems in this country - there was an incredible public response. The Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, should take heed of that. The reports released this week relating to NAMA and activities in the banking sector prove it is high time these people were sacked. I commend Deputy Noonan on making that statement because it is what the Irish people want at a time when they feel frustrated, annoyed and dejected at what has happened and is happening in this country.

I heard Government Members referring to the need for confidence and the importance of not talking down the economy. The reality is that nobody has confidence in this Government. Some 450,000 people are unemployed and hundreds of young people are leaving our shores on a weekly basis to seek a living in Britain, the United States, Canada or Australia, many of them graduates. How could they have confidence in a Government that has no plan to get us out of recession?

The Minister should go back to the basics, back to the industries that produced jobs in the past. Two of those are staring us in the face, namely, agriculture and tourism. Thousands of jobs could be created in agriculture and related industries. There will be a huge shortage of timber in years to come because the Government has closed down the forestry industry. These are the sectors which could provide jobs for young people. Throughout the world food is becoming a more valuable commodity, yet the Government sits idly by as the potential of emerging markets is ignored. The Minister has a moral responsibility to the people of this country to put in place a plan to expand our agricultural industry, which has been neglected by the Government for so many years.

The potential to encourage tourism from Europe and throughout the world is enormous, but no effort is being made to encourage tourists to Ireland. If this motion achieves nothing other than to ensure the Government puts in place a plan for tourism and for agriculture - the basic industries - that will at least be a start. Only then as a country could we say that we were doing something and that the Government would put in place a plan for the 450,000 people who are unemployed.

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