Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

The past is a different country. The present is a country which borrows €55 million to meet the daily running costs of the Irish economy, which is unsustainable.

My colleague, Deputy Mitchell, pointed out that while there is a reservoir of goodwill from all sectors of society for decisive leadership, the Taoiseach and the Government are squandering that opportunity. People are realistic in terms of the state of the economy and the measures required to be taken. While I accept we will never see the agreement in detail, there is broad agreement on what needs to be done. It is imperative we do not delay or prevaricate further. It is contemptuous of the Government to provide time for this debate when we have no idea what are its proposals in this regard, months after the extent of the problem became apparent.

I wish in the time available to deal with a number of issues. To sustain public support for the type of action necessary, it is imperative that those who contributed to bringing us to our knees are seen to pay the price. I have no confidence in respect of key officeholders such as the Financial Regulator, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Office of Corporate Enforcement. People must be brought to heel in terms of the sins they have committed. It is almost two years since the Supreme Court issued its ruling in respect of the Fyffes-DCC case, yet no action in this regard has been taken by the Office of Corporate Enforcement. Are we expected to have confidence therein in respect of breaches of company law that have become apparent in recent days?

To sustain public support for what is necessary, we need to ensure those who have contributed to the mess we are in are held to account. I believe there is a weakness emerging in terms of the Government's softness in dealing with those involved owing to its close alignment with them in the past. We need collegiality and togetherness on this issue. We have shown from these benches that we are prepared to support the Government if it takes the appropriate actions.

I believe, because I represent a constituency that has been substantially devoid of any multinational presence, that the SME sector, and in particular the agri-food sector, will contribute to the regeneration of our economy. There is much talk of research and development, which is excellent and should be encouraged. However, it is more important that we focus on bringing research to production. This is where we are stumbling all of the time. We need to focus more resources on this area.

We invest approximately €100,000 in the creation of a job in the multinational sector. We should ensure similar investment in the agri-food and seafood sectors thus encouraging them to step up to the plate. We need to get the monkey off the back of the small and medium sector which previously created thousands of jobs but are currently haemorrhaging jobs owing to the excessive burden of costs and regulation foisted upon them. We need to slash and burn red tape in that area.

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