Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

They could be in Cork. This is a suggestion I put forward 12 months ago and I want the Minister of State to take it seriously. A gentleman can start 100 jobs in the area of the oil industry, involved in dredging, tug boats, dredgers, self-propelled dump barges, geographical survey vessels, oceanographic survey vessels and cargo vessels, which take 60% of world trade. There are unemployed fishermen who lost jobs through the EU decommissioning scheme. They are sitting in their homes but they are the deckhands, the engineers and first mates, the real workers on those boats, not the owners, who lost out on the decommissioning scheme. We must consider a six-week training course, in either Greencastle or in County Cork, the county of the Minister of State, which would give them a licence to skipper these vessels. I will not speak to the Minister of State in a patronising way or use this as a political opportunity. The idea has been with the Government for the past 12 months, passed from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to BIM and to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The Minister of State as a Corkman, and I as a Donegal man, can provide jobs in the aquaculture sector and get fishermen back to work. I ask for the indulgence of the Minister of State.

At the macro level, if one listens to the people as a politician, for a period of six years people were saying three things. They were saying that there is no way free money can be given away in the form of 110% mortgages. They also said the boom would come to an end, that it could not last. They said that there would be an end to the construction cycle for six to ten years but nobody listened to the person on the ground. Now, going to branch meetings around my rural constituency, people are asking one question, which is known to those on this side of the House, namely, where all the money went. Not every property developer has gone bust. Money has been taken out of this State and invested elsewhere. We must track it down because the people with the burden in respect of this disaster are those with mortgages. Joe Public is carrying the can for this. Deputy English referred to getting the economy back on track and getting it going. In order to do so we must challenge the banks, which are giving deposit interest rates of 7%, trying to take money out of the economy. Last week alone I heard of three people who tried to secure a car loan but the banks would not give them a loan. That is the problem people are encountering. We cannot bail out the banks without putting some responsibility on their shoulders to try to get the economy going again. It is not happening. That is the responsibility of the Members on the opposite side of the House. We will support them with suggestions, as Deputy Varadkar is doing tonight. We also have a responsibility in this regard. I ask the Minister of State's indulgence on this matter.

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