Eoghan Harris (Independent)

It is well known that every generation fights the next war with the weapons of the last. Nothing that I heard today from any Member still measures the extent of the economic crisis, recession and more that is ahead of us. Even the smallest anecdotal encounter with the public will tell one that there are more lay-offs, shorter working times and people being stood down than ever appears in our newspapers.

We do not still measure the extent of this crisis. We should be talking about a national government, war-time measures and states of emergency. No economy in Europe is as exposed as Ireland's. No banking system, except perhaps the American one, is exposed to such levels of toxic debt. No wonder the Stock Exchange, which always measures what is wrong, knew exactly what was wrong with the Irish banks. Recapitalisation at the level of €10 billion will not solve our problems. The problem starts with every consumer, every man, woman and child in the country.

If the banks are capitalised, they may or may not lend it to the people who need it. The Small Firms Association may or may not be correct about the need for capital. Fundamentally, it comes down to every man and woman with an income deciding to spend or not. If they do not decide to spend, this economy will not move. The €10 billion would be far better employed by giving everyone in the country €5,000 to go out and spend. As we can see on Grafton Street, when the sales are on and the prices are right, people will go and spend.

The income must be given to the people who need it — that is every man, woman and child in the country — not to banks or intermediate bodies. It is ridiculous to have the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance meeting the social partners today. The only reason he should be meeting them is to tell them he will not be giving the agreed pay increases because the country has not got the money. The only people who should be made pay up are the construction industry. Their workers are at least entitled to the pay increases in the private sector. We are just dreaming along towards a massive recession. I predict unemployment will hit 500,000. I predict there will be riots like those in Greece. There is a lumpenproletariat, as we see in Limerick and saw in the Love Ulster riots, waiting to jump up on any legitimate protest.

As to what happened to the Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, which he endured very bravely, I hope it will allow him to come to the House to tell us what it was like to be a victim of crime. There should be less of this ridiculous nonsense of Senator Norris talking about politically correct quangos that rightly fell. All they ever did was cause trouble, creating minority grievances where they were never before, telling people they are ethnic groups when they are not. They had little enough to bother them, whingeing about Sunday Independent articles, a small bit of gaiety to the nation. It is about time they got a grip on the real world. In the real world, the Irish banking system is exposed to massive levels of toxic debt which will not go away. It cannot be dealt with by a partisan Government with the Opposition shouting and complaining.