Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I call for a debate on the decision of the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to a quarter of one point, which is effectively a zero interest rate. What happened last night has changed the world economy. Following America's decision, it is likely that the Bank of England will cut its interest rates to a similar level and that central banks across Asia will do the same. The consequences of that upon our competitiveness as a country are profound. The value of the dollar and sterling will fall, and the competitiveness of our service and export businesses will come under an assault the like of which they have not experienced in recent years.

This morning we spoke about accident and emergency services, school funding, the ability of people to buy homes and so on. All this is predicated on the viability of our economy, which has been based on its ability to be competitive. What happened last night is changing the world so our economy needs to be competitive. Unless we have a single-minded focus on what is required for our country to become competitive, our ability to do all the things we want to do will go out the window. We are beginning to get obsessed with the banks and with holes in public finances, which are easy to understand. The bigger challenge is to confront the massive assault to the competitiveness of our country in reaction to what is happening in the rest of the world.

The spirit to which Senator Ó Murchú referred was characterised by leaders from all political parties 90 years ago. The one quality they all shared was an ability to recognise the state of our country at the time and to act upon it. I have to conclude that such a spirt is lamentably lacking in the Government that is in place at the moment.