Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

This Private Members' motion is about an gnáth duine, the ordinary person, in our communities. In commending the motion, I regret that a solution is nowhere to be found. All of us can sign up to the narrative of the motion. Every day, people who are in negative equity or who have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay their mortgages come into our offices while we are also approached by business people who are in trouble. This is not about speculators and developers who went berserk and lost the run of themselves; this is about ordinary people who are struggling.

The motion does not offer a solution and it behoves all of us not only to provide an analysis but, as Deputies Lynch, Matthews and English said, to come up with solutions that will ensure people retain their homes and small and medium enterprises continue to thrive and to create jobs and that we place a value on work and reward entrepreneurs who create jobs.

The Government has only been in office for two months but I believe we will experience a radical change because the Minister for Finance has been proactive on this issue. Opposition Members do not have a monopoly on concern or condemnation but it behoves all of us, to borrow Deputy Martin's phrase, "to the end the Punch and Judy show" and come up with solutions to the problems that affect the ordinary person.

Last night, the Minister stated:

A key objective for government is to strengthen overall fiscal sustainability be separating bank risk from that of the sovereign. Clearly this can be achieved only by returning the banking system to health.

We must return our banks to health in order that they can support and work with entrepreneurs, public servant and home owners and that is why the House recognises that people are under pressure and SMEs are struggling to access credit and are being pursued by banks.

A friend of mine runs a small business in Cork. When I spoke to him yesterday, I told him I would be contributing to this debate tonight. I received an e-mail from him earlier which stated:

The issues as they affect me are....costs are still too high, turnover has receded at a bigger rate than costs such as rent, rates, bank charges, energy costs etc. The legislator needs to force banks (now state owned), energy companies, local authorities and insurance companies to realise that small businesses are the lifeblood of many local towns and the service and employment they provide must be preserved...

The credit circle (as I call it) MUST be serviced in order to maintain jobs and keeps non cash businesses afloat. This can only be done at the expense of the interests that I have already mentioned. The banks must work with us rather than against us.

Those are the words of a business person who employs people and who is generating revenue to get our country moving.

I appeal to the Government to go back to the banks to tell them in no uncertain terms that it is not good enough to pay bonuses and to have the former chief executive officer of AIB doing a degree in Trinity College Dublin while ordinary people are struggling. They must co-operate and work with customers and not frighten them. The morality exhibited by many senior bank executives leaves a great deal to be desired and I am concerned that this culture has not been cleaned up. I hope the next time we discuss banking issues, the culture of greed will be no more among executives and they will work in the interests of the people.

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