Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a significant debate as it marks the beginning of the end of the bailout phase of our economic recovery. While it is significant that Ireland is the first country to exit a programme, there is no cause for celebration, as many challenges lie ahead for the country and families.

I am being generous in describing this as a debate, as debates normally involve an exchange of views and information. The House was not given any information today. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, spoke about the Government's decision to exit the bailout without a precautionary credit line following "a careful and thorough assessment of all available options, and various consultations". The decision was, apparently, finely balanced, but we have been given no evidence in this regard, nor was any presentation made on the alternatives or their cost. Some Deputies have been critical of the decision and argued that we will be signing up for a second bailout with more stringent conditions. We have not seen any evidence to this effect. The Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform was not given a presentation on the options available to the Government. If, to use the words of the Minister, the decision was "finely balanced" and the Government could easily have taken a different decision, the Oireachtas should have been consulted and the joint committee should at least have been involved to bring balance to the debate.

While I do not doubt the Minister's word on this issue, either the Government is serious about Dáil reform or it is not. It frequently parades the idea of Dáil reform. This was a perfect opportunity to present the options available to the Government on exiting the bailout to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform. Even if the joint committee were involved retrospectively, as is still possible, it would still be preferable to having to wait for an inevitable leak from the German Parliament or State records on the matter.

We must also consider what will be the role of KfW Bank.

We have a serious problem, to which Deputy Kieran O'Donnell referred in his presentation on tracker mortgages. Banks are not lending. We had a two-night debate on the issue last week. There is a programme for Government commitment to establish a strategic investment bank. We have shown examples of and everybody on every side of the House has spoken about the difficulty in getting credit for SMEs. The Taoiseach, to use the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan's phrase, "mentioned" the role of KfW bank as being a game changer last week - one will recall that old phrase that we have often heard from the other side of the House - but we do not know what they have done and what the bank's role will be. I placed a series of parliamentary questions to the Minister and received the response this evening. His response to the series of questions states:

Officials of my Department have already exchanged working papers on this subject with KfW and the German Ministry of Finance. We have held a consultation with the German embassy in Dublin which helped pave the way for discussions with the German Ministry which were held in Berlin yesterday and further discussions will be held with KfW and other key stakeholders over the coming weeks both here and in Germany.

That is all fine. It is lovely that the German embassy knows more about the Government's plans for KfW than we do. What will be the KfW initiative? What will it mean? Will it help to address the issues of bank balance sheets? Will it allow for further lending? Will it be specifically focused on SMEs or broader companies? Will it have a role in personal lending? Will it have a role in addressing the major challenge facing many SMEs which have fine and viable businesses and are good going concerns but which are being pulled down by property or legacy-related debt? We do not know where the Government is going with this initiative, yet it is engaged in discussions with German embassy officials, as well as with the German Ministry of Finance. In tabling a parliamentary question one receives that answer. That is crucial. We have economic growth and limited employment creation, but if companies are to ride the wave of growth, we need to address the banking problems, in particular for SMEs. The Government seems to have given up on the idea of having a strategic investment bank. The Minister's response tonight was quite vague. This seems to be the vehicle the Government will use, yet we are as much in the dark about it as we were when the Taoiseach mentioned it seven days ago and there has been much talk about political reform here today.

Exiting the bailout programme will mean nothing for those who are unemployed. There is job creation, but there are so many who have been parked - there is a debate ongoing in the House with private business on this issue - for the want of training places and opportunities. Addressing the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, wearing his public sector reform hat, until such time as the Government states a Department of jobs is all about jobs and we do not have a situation where the issues of job creation and activation are shared in three Departments, the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Education and Skills and Social Protection, the way of doing government business in a silo will block opportunities which people will lose because there are three Departments involved. If we are serious about job creation which the Government keeps stating is the next big project, the Government should create a real Department of jobs to drive it. That is the way it will maximise opportunities and be able to state to people the economic growth and recovery about which we all are talking will mean something to them. The way it is doing it, with three Ministers and three sets of officials squabbling over budgets, the person who is unemployed and wants to seek a path to employment is dealing potentially with three Departments. That is not the way to do it. That is not a crisis response for the 400,000 persons who are looking for employment in the economy. In whatever economic plan that will be presented some time between now and Christmas, there is a need for whole-scale reform of the operation of that side of government because no job creation plan will work in the way they are operating it.

I have been listening all day to Government Deputies clapping themselves on the back and saying they are a great bunch of guys and gals for having done this. They remind me of somebody who joins the marathon three quarters of the way through, manages to cross the finishing line and is getting his or her medal. The Tánaiste was congratulating Deputies last week for sticking with it. The Labour Party, in particular, was elected on a programme of opposing every measure it has implemented in the past two and a half years. Fine Gael at least stated there would be tough decisions, but the Taoiseach has forgotten the five point plan.

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