Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Walsh for sharing time. I agree with his remarks regarding those in privileged positions. We should start with ourselves. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, of which Senator Walsh is a member, is considering the matter of expenses and remuneration. However, one cannot take action such as that announced yesterday and then state that Members' expenses are immune, as one then would have no credibility. I do not wish to see the implementation of the report and findings of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in a few months' time, in the wake of a sustained media campaign that has lasted for weeks and with a perception that it was done under public pressure, rather than doing it quickly and immediately.

As Members are aware, advertisements on Internet sites for hotels in Dublin suggest that a room can cost as little as €10 or €20 per night, or €40 if one wishes to go up-market. Members' subsistence allowances are greater than that. Their purpose is to pay for overnight expenses and the cost of a hotel room. There is not meant to be an element of profit. Given the public is contemplating hotel rooms that cost €10 a night, how can Members state that although subsistence was taken from the public sector yesterday, they are a different case? Members are not a special case and if they declare everyone is in this together, they should mean it.

I congratulate the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Cabinet on taking a decisive decision yesterday. It is unfortunate this could not have been done under the auspices of social partnership. I realise the pressure the unions were under as they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. It is difficult for union representatives, whose job is to get the best pay, terms and conditions for those who pay their wages, to tell their members they have just negotiated a pay cut for them. It was an easier job when times were good and benchmarking awards and so on were being handed out. It is very difficult for them to accept reductions and the pressure of time was a major factor. Obviously, the rating agencies are still considering Ireland from the perspective of its volatility and ability to pay. There are those, I am unsure whether one can call them merchants of doom, who have suggested that 500,000 people will be unemployed. Such unemployment levels obviously would have a massive impact on social welfare payments and social order. Consequently, nobody is immune and if Members are to give leadership, they must begin with themselves.

Amid all the talk of levies yesterday, some good news was announced, as an additional sum of approximately €750 million will be spent on the capital programme for schools. A further €56 million will be saved in the schools budget in respect of lower than expected costs, which will provide employment. While such employment will not be nearly sufficient, it is something. In addition, I have been informed there will be job announcements by the Government over the coming weeks. They probably will go unreported in the newspapers, which only sell when there is bad news.

Ireland must make itself competitive again and must do what Senator Quinn advocated, namely, encourage entrepreneurship. As for the Opposition parties, my learned colleagues in Fine Gael have put forward proposals, some of which the Government has already adopted to a degree. However, I note with interest that in today's edition of the Irish Independent, the Labour Party, while critical of the Government, has put nothing forward except platitudes and plenty of criticism. In the hour of greatest peril, when deposit holders nationwide looked to the Government for leadership in respect of the banks, the Labour Party balked. Senator Fitzgerald should consider that had a Labour Party Minister for Finance been sitting in the hot seat that night, Ireland would be in an entirely different world, which would not necessarily be a better place.