Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I support my colleague's call for a debate on the economy which I hope will be constructive. Given the number of speakers who called for such a debate, I hope solutions will emerge from it. We find ourselves in an extraordinary situation with the oil crisis. The cost of oil is putting pressure on the various service industries. There is also the problem of the credit squeeze in the banks, which affects everyone. There is the sub-prime lending situation, which is more relevant to America and Britain than Ireland. I believe the banks have been lending irresponsibly and I agree with Senator Ross in this regard. All these factors affect the economy and I hope when we debate this matter we will have solutions.

There are solutions. Some 50,000 people in the house building industry will become unemployed and there is a solution to be found for this. There are new technologies coming on stream which will create new jobs in that industry. Everyone believes the housing industry is synonymous with building industry, but it is only a small part of it. There is the green collar worker which we can introduce with new skills to work with energy ratings which we badly require. If we introduce energy ratings in housing projects, it is another significant area where we can create new and necessary jobs. I hope when we have a full-day debate on this matter that the Minister for Finance will come to the House and outline his plans and views. Recriminations will not get us anywhere. We are elected to this House as legislators to ensure we tease out the problems and find the best possible way out of a situation. Senator Ó Murchú put his finger on it; we need to be a little more patriotic now.