Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business. In light of the dramatic events unfolding in the financial world, we should engage in a question and answer session with the Minister who will be present in the House to take the debate on the economy. Many Members will want to pose questions in respect of current events and I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to ensure the House will not merely take statements but that there will be adequate question and answer session of one hour. I await the Leader's response on the matter.

We meet in extraordinary times. Today is a day on which the Government and the taxpayer have become exposed to financial risk like never before, probably to the tune of €250,000 per person in the country. It is an extraordinary sum.

There are 235,000 unemployed people in the country. Some 46,000 people joined the unemployment list since Deputy Brian Cowen became Taoiseach. Some 235,000 people are worrying about how they will pay their rent or mortgages and from where their next job will come. Tax revenues have fallen by €7 billion. The country is in recession for the first time in 25 years and the economy has shrunk this year. It is a very difficult economic situation. There has been much denial in this House over a number of months but today reality is dawning on people.

We have heard much about bailing out the banks and about what is happening. It is a far cry from when the banks appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service earlier this year and told us all was well. Today is a far cry from the presentations given that day in July, which was only a few months ago.

We have not heard much about what the impact will be on the taxpayer. Legitimate questions are being posed by people about today's decision to which we need answers. Many people will welcome the decision as a sign that some necessary action is being taken. However, the 400 parents I met last night in Palmerstown whose children's school was left off yesterday's list wonder what will happen to the schools building programme and about the lack of transparency in regard to the list. That is on their minds as well as the bigger questions such as the risk to the taxpayer. What sort of bad debts are we guaranteeing, to some degree? What impact will it have on the State's finances? Crucially, how can we have confidence that the banks will not engage in reckless borrowing once again and put taxpayers at further risk? These are the types of questions about which people are very concerned.

People are very concerned about regulation. What happened in regard to regulation? Why did it fail? What type of regulation will we have from here on in? We need to hear about that from the Minister for Finance. We need to see more joined up thinking from Departments on the broader economic issues.

I will refer to three areas from which uncertain messages have been coming from Government. The first area is third level fees, the second is the fact the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment could not decide whether there needed to be an investigation into FÁS and eventually decided there is such a need and, finally, in a matter of life and death, the Minister for Health and Children failed to grapple with the tragedy which seems to have beset breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

In this era of the Celtic tiger, we have heard of the needless deaths of women who have not received proper diagnoses in our health service. It is an extraordinary legacy. As far as the health service is concerned, what were the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin, doing during their tenure in the Department of Health and Children which allowed us to reach this point? Where were the reforms during that era of huge economic wealth in this country? We need leadership and joined up thinking.

The Minister for Finance has a series of questions to answer and we need to hear those answers. I would like to start today with a question and answer session in the House.