Feargal Quinn (Independent)

It is a debate that would be very welcome because we would all learn a great deal from it.

I support Senator Alex White on the economy and banking. We have had debates on these matters in the past few weeks but we should have regular debates on that situation. There is a danger we will talk ourselves into a much deeper recession than we might otherwise have. We can do something about it, there are questions we should be asking and we should be debating them in the House now.

We made decisions on a number of areas in the good years. We made decisions on benchmarking, public sector pay and public sector pensions. We also made decisions on having the highest minimum wage in Europe. Some jobs do not exist at certain rates of pay. If we are to ensure that the actions that were good in the good years are not necessarily the correct thing to do in the future, let us have that debate. We should have that debate on a regular basis in this House during this period. This is a time not for optimism but for realism tinged with optimism rather than the pessimism that we hear too often in these Houses.