Eoghan Harris (Independent)

Before Christmas, I predicted in this House that the number of people unemployed would reach 500,000. Some people outside this House told me I was insane to think that. I now believe that number will increase to 700,000, or 20%, by the end of the year.

I was unable to be here yesterday, so I watched the proceedings of this House and the Lower House on television. I did not get any sense that either House is grasping the extent of this problem. Those whose greed has now been followed by anger and fear are looking for scapegoats to blame. That this is a global recession is not being accepted.

We are told that bankers, financiers and people in the political class were negligent and incompetent. I do not agree with those who maintain there was a high level of corruption in this country during the boom. While I accept that questions may need to be asked about neglect and incompetence in Anglo Irish Bank, the level of corruption that was a feature of banks throughout the world was not evident here.

The political class does not seem to appreciate how bad the recession is throughout the world. It is in Asia, in Australia and in the United States. I have recently returned from Britain, where I observed that the midlands of that country are like a wasteland. The shops and pubs are empty. Ireland is not special case.

I am tired of listening to the revising of history, particularly the blaming of the political class, including the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and his successor, Deputy Cowen. We had a boom. Everybody in Ireland participated in it. Irish people bought 200,000 houses overseas during the boom. They were not all bought by bankers. Everybody in Ireland participated in the boom.