Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I, too, welcome the opportunity to discuss this important initiative brought forward by Government. Like other speakers, as a constructive parliamentarian newly in Opposition I believe it behoves us all to try to be constructive in terms of working through the initiatives and ideas that come forward. As my former colleague in the Seanad, Deputy Joe McHugh, said earlier, we should not try to exclude ideas or viewpoints put forward by those on the Opposition benches. I hope that was the case with the previous Government, although that may not have been the case to the full satisfaction of all concerned. However, there is a requirement for us, not just to come forward with ideas, which we will, but to offer our opinions, based on what has transpired or what the Government has put forward.

Yesterday's initiative is too little, given the hype that preceded it. The hype came primarily from the positions taken by the parties now in government in the run-in to the general election. Deputy Michael McGrath has talked about the great efforts made to promote the potential of the NewERA document and the funds that would be attracted from within the Irish economy and from outside, through the issuance of bonds. That has not been possible and has not formed part of the latest initiative. A Minister of State has been appointed and I hope that is not a wasted exercise. We may hear of the NewERA again in the not too distant future. There was some potential in the document for getting a more focused and broad spectrum approach to the development of our infrastructure. I hope that will raise its head at a later stage. I have no doubt Deputy Fergus O'Dowd will work to bring that about. At one stage there was a projection of €18 billion. It then became €7 billion and we are now back to €0.5 billion. However, that is history.

There was talk of a bank for national recovery. That was not part of the programme for Government. The strategic investment bank proposal, from Deputy Sherlock's party, was forced into the programme for Government but we heard little about that yesterday either. In the minds of some Labour candidates it was a panacea for the resolution of the banking crisis.

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