Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

People have had overdrafts reduced from €20,000 to €3,000. People looking for short extensions on credit facilities cannot get them. Local bank managers are no longer entitled to make decisions and the decisions being made higher up the line are often by people who, with respect to them, have not created a job at any time in their lives.

It appears as if this Government will continue its relationship with big utility companies, regulators and senior public servants. The work of Government has been stymied by key network infrastructures in areas like telecommunications, energy and water, which is undermining our environment and our competitiveness.

Many public servants across the country have told me they would like to see this system reformed. As a public servant I believe that public servants should be able to go home in the evening happy in the knowledge that they have done a good day's work in the interest of progressing our country, but the current system strangles the initiative of many people who have creativity and ingenuity to offer our public service. The Taoiseach has done nothing about that, and it causes serious frustration among hundreds of thousands of our public servants. I am aware of the problem we face in dealing with our public finances. That is an issue that must be faced. We must debate the various forms in which we can deal with that.

Deputy Simon Coveney produced a proposal for Fine Gael called NewERA, an €11 billion financial stimulus for the creation of 100,000 jobs. If any of the Government Ministers were to read that they would see that it is not negative. It is forward thinking and progressive.

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