Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I wish to echo a call I made last week, a call made by many Senators in previous weeks and in recent days, to have a debate on the economy. I especially call on the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coughlan, to come to the House and speak about the current job losses taking place across the State. Members of Opposition parties, including myself, have pointed out repeatedly that this was going to happen. The Government dug its head into the sand and told us there was nothing to worry about.

Yesterday we had to sit here and listen to lectures from the Government benches telling us we must do the patriotic thing in terms of the economy. My party and I have no problem doing that. However, I ask those who call on the Opposition in this way to define what the patriotic thing is in terms of the economy, considering that this Government has presided over substantial wealth over the past decade. We can see the ways in which it has squandered it.

When I consider patriotism, I think of one of the most important documents in Ireland, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916 and what the men and women signed up to at that time. The Proclamation mentioned equal rights and opportunities, cherishing all the children equally and pursuing the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts. That is what patriotism is. The Irish economy, steered by this Government over the past ten years, has failed on those three counts. The Government has enriched those who were rich and has widened the gap between the wealthy and the poorest in the State. Infrastructure is crumbling and there is no broadband. All these problems exist and we will highlight them in a future debate.

I have called many times for a debate in this House on education. It is fitting that we should have a debate before the summer recess with the new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, on the needs of education in this State. We see the Minister participating in the biggest cutbacks in education since the 1980s. The fact that one third of our 4,000 schools is on the schools building programme list and that the Minister has not announced such a list since the beginning of this year is appalling. Schools throughout the length and breadth of this State were promised and have received tenders——