Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

It is ironic that we are debating the integration of parts of FÁS into the Department of Social Protection given the way in which this Government took its eye of the ball and allowed senior officials in the organisation to waste thousands of euro. FÁS's culture of waste and its abuse of taxpayers' money appeared acceptable to the higher echelons of the public sector. This is why we are consigning the organisation to the past.

Details emerged in the Committee of Public Accounts about the €5.7 million spent on travel and other expenses in 2007. Senior executives and their wives took first class flights, played expensive rounds of golf and ran up bills at beauty and hair salons. When the committee finally received the internal report on these activities, large sections of it were blacked out. This is not a democracy or open government; it is a secret society. While FÁS has done good work, the actions of its senior executives have brought it into disrepute. Fine Gael has proposed that FÁS should be replaced by a better and more cost-effective alternative.

Seven years ago, nobody took FÁS training courses because there was full employment. Despite this fact, FÁS continued to spend millions of euro to promote its courses in local newspapers and radio stations. Was a value for money calculation ever done on this expenditure? The question of whether the money was used by the Government to ensure that people who were in positions of power in newspapers and radio stations knew who buttered their bread has never been answered. I have a sneaking suspicion that the managing director of FÁS and others had a budget for greasing the machinery of information so that when push came to shove at the next election, these people knew who was good for their organisations.

We need a strategy to bring the country back from the brink. I have great respect for the Minister and the work he has done over the years. The rural social scheme he introduced has been a great success for the small farmers who can continue to work while also farming their land. That scheme could be expanded. Coillte owns thousands of acres of land and it is open to partnership with the Government. If funding was available, a bicycle track could be opened in a forest in Donegal or walking routes could be developed throughout the country. Most importantly, as in the Obama stimulus plan, it would get people back to work. For a mere €20 million, 1,000 people could be got back to work providing amenity areas and credible alternatives for leisure. It is an issue the Minister should consider.

We are not thinking outside the box. I spoke to Mr. Jim White, the former Fine Gael Deputy, while I was in Donegal. He owns the Abbey Hotel in Donegal and various other hotels and is finding it very difficult to survive in business, as is the case with most businesses. We know Germany is the home of the thermal spa. Mr. White was able to bring 5,000 German tourists to Lisdoonvarna last September, which helped to keep his hotels going. He was one who thought outside the box. As an example, the travel tax is causing huge difficulty. Under Fine Gael, we will go to the two airline companies, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, with the proposal to abolish the travel tax if they agree to bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors. It will be a quid pro quo which is good for tourism, in particular the hotels. That is thinking outside the box.

I would not dismiss the Minister's idea of using texts. It is right to use technology and the issue is worth exploring further. The Minister has explained that it makes sense. However, there is a strong perception that people have been on the take for the past ten or 15 years and that the recession is not affecting them. At the same time, there are those who worked all their lives and the current situation is a huge challenge for them - Deputy O'Connor pointed out he has been unemployed three times. People do not know where to go or what to do. In particular, there seems to be no back-up for the self-employed. The public perceive that such people have a nest egg. Most businesses and the self-employed have dug in with their life savings to protect their company and their employees and now they have nothing. After creating so many jobs, the State does not seem to have made provision for them. It is a difficult and disappointing situation.

I sat on a doorstep in Donegal two weeks ago with a lady who cried because her three children have gone to Australia. All she wants is hope and a future for those children. We will work together to create a spirit that will ensure a future for young, innovative, educated children who do not have an opportunity at present.

We need to establish an independent fiscal council to advise Parliament on issues such as borrowing levels, debt reduction and taxation planning. A colleague of mine said this Dáil has been a doss house for the past ten years. He is probably correct. No decisions were made here by the Opposition; they were made by the Government and the social partners. I find it strange to see trade union leaders wagging their fingers and saying "You got it wrong". They had more power than Deputy Enda Kenny or I, yet they are abdicating their responsibility by saying it is everyone else's fault. While some good deals were done, we priced ourselves out of the jobs market with the deals that were done in social partnership.

I spoke to a man recently who told me of young plumbers working for him who were getting €600 per week but were told that they should be getting €1,200 under new provisions. The man had to tell them he could not afford to run his business at that cost, or to send them to a house at €170 per hour because people would not pay it. We priced ourselves out of the market. We killed the golden goose through regulations, red tape and greed.

I wish the Minister well in what he is doing. We have crossed paths on numerous occasions and I have the height of regard for him. I hope he does well.

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