Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this evening's motion. When I was elected to the House a year ago, there was profound uncertainty in the economy and among people and commentators about the state and likely survival of our banking sector. Let us not underestimate how far we have come in a year, to a point where the viability of our two pillar banks is no longer in question. They are now considered to be stable and working forward.

I acknowledge the severe financial stress being experienced by constituents of mine, and of every Deputy in the House. Last Monday, a gentleman came to my constituency clinic in Galway. He is involved in an insurance business but the work has gone through the floor. The pressure to repay the loan on an investment property he bought at the height of the boom is crippling him. The stress of trying to keep a business afloat and to pay mortgages, which are interest only mortgages at this point, is immense. We cannot leave the real life stories of our constituents out of this discussion.

The Government has made significant progress on this issue through the interdepartmental report, the Keane report, and through the strategies it has put in place. However, progress is not happening fast enough and I call on the Government to increase the speed with which it is implementing the Keane report in order that people have a timetable for when certain steps will be implemented. I do not take away from the complexity of the issue or from the cross-departmental problems to do with the Departments of Finance, Justice and Equality, with regard to legislation, and others, but this needs to happen faster.

In all our discussions in the House, the main issue is that the economy has gone through the floor and people are out of work. The solution to so many of the country's problems is to get people back to work so they have money in their pockets, can afford to pay their bills and have some financial security.

The first part of the Fianna Fáil motion notes the issues. The three elements the motion calling on the Government to use its influence on Permanent TSB, to measure the new lending performance of the banks and to set out an implementation strategy seem very sensible. While I will support the Government amendment, I call on the Government to take into account those three actions and to act on them. They are not unreasonable or counterproductive and they have merit.

See this speech in context