Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, RTE carried an interview from Ms Áine Lawlor on the lunchtime programme, who is one of our best, most informed and knowledgeable broadcasters. She interviewed a professor of economics who explained that it made sense for this Government to borrow for day-to-day expenditure. He explained that with interest rates so low, the stimulus triggered would more than cover the cost of borrowing. That would appear to be a portent of happy days. These are happy days, at least for some, but for too many, happiness is still some distance away on the horizon.

Everybody in the House knows that Ireland has a large number of people desperate to work and who are anxious for the country to return to growth. They are still so hobbled by debt that it is the responsibility of the Government to fix the issue. These people are not fools and they did not take inordinate risks.

These are the people who forsook emigration and continue to go to bed hungry in the cold and dark. They are deserving of our praise and commendation because it is they who weather the storm in the bilges of the sinking ship of Ireland's economy. They can smell the sweet scent of the harvest as the country reaches the safe harbour of recovery but they remain chained and shackled below deck by debt and frozen by the unnecessarily drawn out process of bankruptcy. While three years may appear short, when added to the wanton deprivation of a lost decade it acquires the appearance of a sentence of indeterminate length. It is too great a period to ask. It matters not whether a person is shackled by mortgage debt or chained by personal debt, all of it is debt. It is of the first magnitude, therefore, that Ireland quickly draws a firm line beneath its past. We must get these people back to work and restore their dignity and sense of self-worth.

Need and entitlement are the new objectives. The country needs the individuals in question to contribute to the economy again. They want to contribute and are entitled to do so. Their contribution to the nation's needs will be joyously measured when they resume their central role in family life, which is so dear to the well-being of this nation but which has been all but destroyed by fear, anxiety, loss, loathing, emigration and mental stress.

Let us place to one side the predictable response of the ill-informed and ignore the crass suggestion that the people in question are wasters or should not have been given loans for whatever reason. What is done is done. If their borrowing was imprudent, the lending was clearly more imprudent. Why should the pain always be visited on the unfortunate borrower?

While we cannot change the past, we can influence the future, which is as close as tomorrow, the day after that, next week and the week after that. It is time to acknowledge the contribution to the recovery made by citizens, specifically those at the worst end of the spectrum of those with financial difficulties. That such people are still standing means they have courage and a will to survive that defies logic. They have shown extraordinary resilience and are enormously talented. Who among those who have husbanded tiny sums to feed and clothe their families would not be talented in the basics of economics? The individuals in question are true survivors. They are not the subject of dramas or documentaries but the real people of Ireland. They deserve the help and acknowledgement of this House and our compliments. They deserve a stimulus package and freedom from the chains and shackles that keep them drowning in the bilges of this ship of state that is safely docked for the rest of us.

We justify borrowing for a stimulus package. We do not need to justify reducing the bankruptcy period to 12 months, which would be a self-contained stimulus package. Its dividends will be reaped from the day a bankruptcy order is made as it would set out for people a clear path forward, one that is tangible, attainable and stimulating. It is the function of government to help those in need and this Government has a responsibility to do so. It is also common sense.

I propose to highlight an issue that is close to my heart, namely, the failure of RTE to accommodate or facilitate on its broadcast media Irish-originated music, whether singers, producers or songwriters, of all genres from folk and pop to classical and country music. Irish music attracts thousands of people to dance venues and concerts but does not find favour with the national broadcaster, which will undoubtedly claim that no one listens to this type of music. I have news for RTE. A recent weekend of country and traditional music in Mullingar attracted more than 2,000 people of all ages. Moreover, almost 300,000 people will attend the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo in August. Is RTE aware of artists such as Nathan Carter, Michael English, Derek Ryan, Jason McGilligan, Johnny Bradley and Johnny McNicholl, all of whom attract thousands of young followers? Why do the national broadcasting channels not feature specific programmes to accommodate these artists? RTE broadcast various programmes focused on Irish music years ago but has now deserted us.

I extend my best wishes to the broadcaster, Donncha Ó Dúlaing, on his retirement last Saturday night after more than 50 years in broadcasting.

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