Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I have an unusual request to make and my credentials on the issue of homelessness are not so weak that I will be misunderstood. I do not think we should have a debate on homelessness before Christmas. The issue and its symptoms are far too extensive to be fitted into a debate lasting one hour or 90 minutes in a crowded sitting next week. I would prefer the House to have a serious debate in the new year about inequality in our society in all its manifestations, including homelessness, with time to do so properly. Notwithstanding people's good intentions, the idea of a Christmas debate on homelessness smacks somewhat of tokenism. I would prefer if we did not have such an inappropriate debate before Christmas, although if we have one I will participate in it.

On an entirely unrelated yet serious matter, this morning's newspapers report an increasing frequency of electricity supplies almost failing. I do not know if this is a consequence of economic growth, but I am concerned that it is a consequence of an ideology which in many cases has prevented the ESB from investing in new power plants because we were waiting to get the private sector involved.

I have no problem with private sector involvement in electricity generation. I do have a problem, however, with the fact that they keep on complaining they cannot make enough money out of it for it to be worth their while. The result is that electricity prices are being elevated partly to make it attractive to the private sector to come in and then claim that it is reducing electricity prices. That does not make much sense to me. We are in grave danger of power cuts, although we have not had a long and bitterly cold winter for quite a while. Such a situation could see us running out of electricity supplies. The failure to develop our electricity and other infrastructures is a fundamental issue for the country's economic future. We should have a serious debate on electricity supplies soon.