George Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

It was never clear what were the Minister proposals for getting credit flowing or for matters such as that. Each time he came back with a response based on whatever he does behind the scenes with the people he engages with about matters which are of significant public interest and concern. Essentially, the Minister is asking the public to trust him. I have no reason that I would not trust him, but I do not trust the advice he has received in many cases. There is good reason to be sceptical about much of the advice and the people who gave it to him. We hope that he is right because if he is not, we will all be up the swanny.

The reality is that the economy has to deliver economic growth which would pay back the €54 billion that the banks and NAMA will owe. The economy also has to deliver €100 billion by the end of next year, which we will have to pay back in terms of the national debt. It has to deliver the economic growth which would pay off €149 billion of mortgages. If one puts those three factors together, never mind the public sector pension bill, we have to deliver €300 billion of economic growth - the benefits of which have already been consumed and allocated - and still live ourselves. For every person who is in the labour force, that is the equivalent of €150,000, which has already been consumed. For a person to pay €150,000, he or she has have to earn €300,000.

This is a very significant commitment that the Minister has entered into without proper analysis, open debate or an open mind in regard to what other people have to say.

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