Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I concur with the concerns expressed about the comments of the DPP. I share his concerns with regard to the current difficulty in prosecuting cases. I was a member of the Joint Committee on Child Protection in the last Dáil and Seanad. We recommended that absolute protection would be reintroduced by way of a referendum. I hope the current committee, under the able chairmanship of Deputy Mary O'Rourke, will come forward with that.

I concur to a very large degree with everything Senator O'Toole said about the economy and what needs to be done. There needs to be restraint everywhere and everybody needs to play his or her part, as I have said, with regard to the public service and having a pay pause for a period of 18 months. It is absolutely essential we do this.

With regard to comments on the construction industry, anybody who knows anything about economics and house building will know that maintaining 80,000 to 90,000 units per year is unsustainable and that a more natural figure would be 40,000 to 50,000.