Aideen Hayden (Labour)

I also welcome the Minister of State to the House and I thank my colleagues for the professional manner in which the debate on this legislation has been handled. This is an important technical piece of legislation which will help deliver significant reductions in interest rates and this bears to be repeated. We must remember we are dealing with the future cost to our children's generation and for the people who have no work. Over 400,000 people are unemployed and therefore every penny matters. To achieve this type of a reduction is significant for this and for future generations. The reform of the IMF structures which is underway is also significant. There is no doubt that the IMF has been subject to significant criticism for its actions during the 1980s and the early 1990s in African countries in particular and in some parts of Asia. The reforms underway within the IMF recognise the importance of protecting the interests of poorer countries who require the assistance of the IMF on a more frequent basis. It also recognises the emerging BRIC nations and recognises the new world order which is also very significant.

I also welcome the recognition that Ireland will be entitled to use one third of the proceeds from the sale of State assets once we have achieved a certain element of asset sales, as a means of investment in new State ventures. I refer to the state of this country in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and the importance of the State investments made in those years in areas such as rural electrification. There is now an opportunity to put money into emerging areas, for example, water conservation, wind energy and other alternative energy. We debated the subject of wind energy and the regulation of wind turbines in the House yesterday. We must be a nation that is capable of seizing opportunity and of reinvesting in ourselves rather than constantly seeking for others to invest in us. This Bill is an important step on the road. I congratulate the Minister of State and both Houses of the Oireachtas for the speedy manner in which this Bill has been dealt with. I hope we give the IMF the impression that we take its participation in and contribution to our economic history very seriously.