Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate initiated by the Opposition. As Deputy Thomas Byrne said, there are elements in the Fine Gael motion that we all support. Everybody in this House is very much aware of the jobs crisis that exists. While we all have different ideas, we all support the notion of creating employment. Fundamental to the restoration of jobs and growth in the country is having an effective banking system that will provide access to cash at realistic interest rates for businesses to be able to employ people and for individuals to be able to live their lives in an ordinary way. We do not have that at the moment. Clearly, the lack of credit is retarding growth and in many cases leading to job losses. Small and medium-sized enterprises are not in a position to get adequate credit to continue their businesses. I would hope that today's announcement will signal finality-----

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