Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

——it will not serve the Government any purpose and it will certainly not serve any purpose to this country or to its people.

Job losses are of the greatest concern, and I am heartened by the approach taken by the Government to address this problem. The funding being provided to the banks under the recapitalisation plan, while it is perhaps not recognised on the international markets, will provide the necessary liquidity to ensure banks are in a position to continue to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises. However, we must go further. From a Government perspective, we must consider imaginative ways to provide tax breaks and mentoring programmes in order that we can instil a sense of entrepreneurial spirit in the people out there who have ideas. We must be careful about demonising people who have done well over the last number of years. There has been a desire in the media and among some members of the Opposition to suggest that people who have been successful are, just because they have made money, somehow distasteful or filthy. If we continue in that way it will be the biggest disincentive to creating the entrepreneurial spirit we need to encourage in people now to ensure they create jobs. Yes, there are wealthy people in Ireland. However, many of them have contributed in exceptional ways to the economy——

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