Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I listened to Mr. Brian Goggin of the Bank of Ireland on the radio this morning announcing half-year profits for the bank of €650 million. He stated the profit will be retained as opposed to being distributed as dividends. It is clear the bank needs to do this to ensure it can recapitalise. However, recapitalisation should not be done at the expense of small businesses. At present, small businesses throughout the country are finding it very difficult to obtain credit, term loans and overdrafts. We need to ensure we do not sacrifice small businesses at the altar of bank recapitalisation because it is small businesses that will generate jobs that we hope will bring the country out of the recession. The banks took in €25 billion since the bailout in October and the Government needs to tell them to extend lines of credit to small businesses.

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency published its report on water quality. There were some shocking and very worrying statistics therein. Faecal coliforms are being found in over half of our groundwater samples. Some 30% of our rivers are polluted and 66% of lakes nationally have unsatisfactory water standards. While the Minister recognises this and has stated further investment is required because we do not want another crisis such as that in Galway, it is not clear that investment is forthcoming. Will the Deputy Leader arrange for a debate in the House with his party colleague to determine where money will be invested to improve our water quality?