Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak today and welcome to the House the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh. The tone of the debate has been highly interesting and I found myself in agreement with many points made from different sides of the House. The best thinking from everyone in Ireland must be sought and as many people as possible must be brought with us, because we face an unprecedented crisis both in Ireland and internationally.

Earlier today, I read a note that John Bruton circulates on a weekly basis, from which a phrase struck me. He spoke of being at a meeting in San Francisco in which EU-American relations were being discussed and at which he stated that the challenge of the 21st century will be to build a system of political governance for the world that can manage the economic, environmental and human relations globalisation that has already taken place. The international crisis is evident and no one can deny the mess the international financial situation has become. The international management system has been shown to have feet of clay. Financial management is being re-invented both in Ireland and internationally and I do not believe the answers have been found yet. This is clear in respect of the debate on the banks. While other countries have recapitalised banks, they have not necessarily got the hoped-for results, which raises serious questions about Ireland's capitalisation plans. One sees President Obama talking about the need for tighter regulation in banking and the Minister of State should comment on that issue. I welcomed the Taoiseach's comments yesterday regarding tighter regulation in the banking sector, and caps placed on bonuses and pay, which I consider to be absolutely essential.

I will refer to an e-mail which I and many other Members received and which was rather well put. The writer stated his belief that everyone must make sacrifices to pull the country out of this difficult time. However, he continued by suggesting that were economic cuts to be targeted at any particular sector, surely it should be at the financial institutions and the construction industry, which largely caused the problems. A genuine sense of shock is widespread and those who were targeted yesterday by the pension levy are questioning the reason they will be the ones to feel the pain, given they did not cause the problem in the first place. I agree with Senator Walsh's point that one cannot set up the private sector against the public sector. We must move forward and create a sense of everyone being in this together. The only way this can be achieved is if people believe the actions that are being taken are fair and equitable in so far as possible.

This is the reason for dealing with the banks in an up-front way and imposing conditions for the vast amount of money that they are to receive. Conditions and tighter regulations should be imposed and greater feedback should be received on a more permanent basis. In addition, one must ensure the audits are more accurate or cover all they must cover, compared to what has happened previously. This is the only way in which those who have been asked to take money from their back pockets and who consider that they did not contribute to this crisis will believe that what is happening is fair.

Senator Healy-Eames did something interesting and the Minister of State may wish to take note of her contribution today. She spoke to a company in Galway in which 80 redundancies have been sought and asked whether there was anything the Government could do that would enable it to retain these employees. It responded in the affirmative. I do not suggest simply pouring money into firms with no return but, as everyone is aware, the cost to the Exchequer of unemployment is extremely high. Therefore, everything that can be done in a proactive way to maintain jobs is critical.

One issue the company cited was its energy costs and I believe strongly that the question of ESB and Bord Gáis charges should be considered. Although the global price of oil has fallen, we appear to be experiencing a huge delay in the passing on of the reduced costs. I also take great note of the comments made by Senator Quinn, who spoke of the absolutely critical necessity of returning to a competitive environment. As the Minister of State is aware, Ireland has been losing competitiveness for approximately five years. My worry is that there appears to be a lack of urgency on the part of the Government in respect of, for example, tackling the issue of electricity and gas prices. The aforementioned company stated that this issue was of critical importance to it, as were the PRSI costs in respect of employment, about which I also seek the Minister of State's response. Urgency certainly is needed in our responses.

Energy costs are key to maintaining jobs. We must consider what proactive steps can be taken to make a difference and to keep people in employment given the appalling scale of debt, the significant levels of unemployment and the consequent personal stress, especially among those who cannot see alternatives. It is not nice to suggest that people could have gone away beforehand. At least there was somewhere to go at the time.

Dole queues should be dealt with urgently. I have spoken to people who recently became unemployed. They do not feel that anyone is reaching out to them, telling them that, in light of their particular skill sets, they will be offered training courses in X, Y or Z or going over their options with them. We must invest more resources in reaching out to those who have become unemployed so that they have some hope of moving forward. We must ask them whether they are interested in further education, developing certain skill sets or moving into other fields. Given unemployed people's desperation, a more proactive engagement with them is necessary.

Will the Minister of State respond to a number of Fine Gael initiatives, namely, the necessary acceleration of the schools building programme by fast tracking planning applications for new schools under the critical infrastructure Act, reversing the hike in VAT to give retailers some relief, providing PRSI relief for employers in distressed companies exposed to competitiveness problems and who retain a minimum number of employees this year, and providing a loan guarantee scheme for small businesses? As the Minister of State is probably aware, these points were also made in the Dáil.

Regarding social partnership, one can be in favour of social partnership and still show political leadership, which was Fine Gael's point when Deputy Kenny referred to the cloak of social partnership. Only when the Taoiseach's back was to the wall did he make his announcement in the Dáil. In fact, it was the last place in which he did so, but it should have been the first. There should have been detailed discussions on the options available to help people, but none was held. Social partnership has bypassed the Dáil and the Seanad. I urge the Government to consider the matter and, while possibly continuing with the social partnership process, to find ways to have meaningful engagement in the Houses during this economically and societally serious time.