Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

There is an awful problem in that there are too many committees and sidebars. If one attends our committee and listens to politicians who are in contact with the people, one will note they are making suggestions every day, as they are paid to do. A profitable step would be to scrap half the committees. Reducing VAT and having PRSI exemptions would actually help to sustain and create employment and address the issue of competitiveness, particularly with regard to Government charges. That is the way forward. There is no need to bring in any more accountancy or legal firms or social partners. It is a landscape which anybody can paint and anyone can put forward solutions. We should have no more committees. We should throw ourselves fully into the one black spot in the country, namely, the current rate of unemployment. As Deputy Varadkar said earlier, half of our deficit is made up of unemployment benefit and social welfare payments. There is a simple solution. Let us all pull the rope the one way and forget about committees.

See this speech in context