Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I support the Senators who called for a debate on stem cell research. I will not repeat what Senator Ó Murchú said but I agree this is the House in which that debate should take place. I also support Senator Hayes's view — we do not have this problem on the Independent side — that it should be a free vote and not controlled by party leaders. That would be a worthy debate.

Figures show that the personal debt of our citizens is huge. That is a worrying and potentially destabilising situation. Credit card debt is in the region of €2 billion and that is being paid for at a rate of approximately 19% by those generous banks which I am sure are happy to do so. There are perhaps 1 million SSIA holders, many of whom may have credit cards. It is up to us as a State to remind those people, as they receive this huge sum of money from these savings accounts, to first pay off their credit card debts. They will have plenty of money to spare but there is a danger that people will spend it on other items and end up paying huge interest rates to banks on credit cards. I hope there is some way we could get across that message. Perhaps it is in the hands of the State through the Minister for Finance but whoever sends it, that message should go out strongly and clearly.