John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange a debate at the earliest opportunity on the subject of buying Irish. We are heading into the Christmas purchasing season and there are many products, including high ticket items such as laptops and computers which are manufactured in this country by American companies. Given a choice and all things being equal, it makes perfect sense for people to make a conscious effort to purchase Irish goods. European Union regulations impose restrictions on the promotion of goods but this does not extend to the national Parliament making a strong case to the public in light of the slowdown in the economy.

The reality is that we are trying to save jobs. I am conscious that one of the major motor companies was considering closing a plant in one of its subsidiaries. Its representatives went to the subsidiary where they were asked very strongly not to close the plant. They then went to the car park where they found many cars, including many imported cars made by that company's cheaper competitors.

We would make a great case for maintaining jobs in Ireland and show a great effort to achieve this if we continued to push strongly for products to have an Irish label on them, whether for computer games, which will be very popular this Christmas, electronic equipment or high ticket items. These should be promoted very strongly. We should have this debate at the earliest opportunity.