Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the comments of the Governor with regard to placing consumers at the heart of the Central Bank's policy and giving them top priority. The public does not feel this has been the case in the past. It is hugely important. We will judge the Governor on his actions rather than his words but I am impressed with the commitments he has given so far.

The problem is that Covid overshadows everything we think about and everything we do. We are lucky with regard to our economic position in that we have capacity to borrow whereas, in 2008, we had to borrow at an interest rate of 14%. This is why we needed to make the cuts we did. We must now focus on the younger generation. They are the people who will lose most in the coming years. They will not be able to get the houses they want. They will not be built and will not be available for rent. There will be great pressure in young people's homes. In places in the west, and around the country, that depend on tourism, there will not be as many jobs as there have been in the catering and hotel industries. The retraining and upskilling of our young people will be a massive issue. If we do not focus on these issues in the package to be launched in July, we will create even greater dissatisfaction than currently exists with regard to housing needs.

We are heading into an extremely difficult situation. If we reach the point the NTMA officials mentioned - and I appreciate they were not talking about the short term - and we have to refinance debt taken on today at interest rates of nearly 0%, it could be extremely costly in the future. Will the Governor give his views on all of these issues? He said that we all have to work together and to act in good faith. That is what all of us, particularly those of us in this House, must now do but we need leadership and support. His concerns about the ordinary five eighths, the people who are unemployed and who will face significant difficulties in their family life, represent the crux of the issue.