Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

All of us in this House would agree that Ireland has enjoyed the dizzy heights of tremendous economic success in recent years. As a small island nation we enjoyed full employment, a tremendous revenue intake and activity at every level of industry and enterprise. Entrepreneurs were prepared to take huge risks and so on. We enjoyed also the moneys that were available for capital investment through the national development plan.

From that dizzy height the average two by four families, as it were, who had extra disposable income in their pockets are now experiencing enormous pressure. It has reversed somewhat but we have had pressure in terms of interest from the financial institutions, supplies, especially in the cost of a barrel of oil, and we now have pressure on sustainable employment. We are experiencing this global storm from a totally different perspective from that which we may have witnessed in the past. The international financial economic difficulties are also adding to the difficulties Ireland is experiencing.

I appreciate that the Minister, along with her Government colleagues, is doing everything in her power to prioritise expenditure, investment and policy which will give us the best economic return and help us turn around the current economic position. I support her words of encouragement to entrepreneurs. She has stated clearly on a number of occasions that she wants Ireland to be a business friendly environment, and her policies reflect that. She has some difficult choices to make. We all want her and her colleagues to correct the difficult financial position in which we find ourselves. My understanding is that we are short approximately €18 billion a year in our finances. To put that into figures people can understand, we need to borrow €50 million per day to keep the country operating, which is a serious position that must be corrected as quickly as possible.

I support the Minister, her colleagues and the Taoiseach in putting the timescale in place to try to have a framework document we can all work to as quickly as possible. I hope that will be by the end of this month. The resources are scarce but my understanding is that the Minister has put a number of incentives in place to try to help the economy and achieve some level of growth.

Regarding the credit crunch, my understanding from speaking to the Minister, some of her colleagues and some people in the financial institutions is that they are open for business.