Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I would like to be associated with the remarks of the Leader in regard to the late Jack Tobin.

Many members of the public watching the emerging debate on the banking and international financial sector and on the economy in recent days will have been struck by a number of factors. One is that, as I said in last week's debate, we are not at the end of the situation in regard to the banks; we are still very much at the beginning, and there are many uncertainties out there.

Members of the public will also be struck by the need for the bankers, in particular, to show some humility given the scale of the support they have got from the Irish taxpayer. This has been lacking in the debate in the past few days. The public will be also asking what is the real debt of the banks. Many are still not reassured in this regard and wonder what is the real story about this debt. I do not believe members of the public were hugely reassured by the Financial Regulator's appearance on television in recent days.

We are at the beginning of a debate that needs to be as rigorous as the debate we had last week on all of these issues. I assume the Government will bring in the regulations in the next few days. Above and beyond this, however, is the question of what is happening in the real economy and what is happening to individuals who are losing their jobs. As I said recently, unemployment is of huge concern. The ESRI talked today of the rate of unemployment being expected to rise from 6% this year to 8% in 2009, with thousands of individuals losing their jobs. Many are concerned this will increase hugely after Christmas, when many small companies will not be in a position to hold on to their employees unless action is taken.

Last week, I asked for a debate on unemployment involving a question and answer session with the Tánaiste, and I spoke about the need for competitiveness and for measures to be introduced to restore competitiveness. While we have had this immediate reaction to the crisis in banking — it was a crisis — it is clear there are longer-term issues in our economy that need to be addressed. We have had very bad mismanagement by Government at a national level. We have had inflationary budgets, a series of wasteful projects and a lack of oversight. The very things we are asking the banks to do now, the Government in many ways failed to do, which are to oversee and manage effectively.

The House is entitled to have this debate today. I propose an amendment to the Order of Business in order that we get the opportunity to debate in the House today the very real issues of unemployment and restoring competitiveness. I hope the Leader will agree to this amendment and ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to come to the House and tell us the specific actions she is taking, whether in the area of retraining or restoring competitiveness for small businesses. I would like to hear what actions are being taken.