Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

We have seen serious unrest in society recently, which is worrying. People are very angry about what is happening in the economy, especially with the loss of jobs, the financial pressures on families and the loss of front-line services that my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, has spoken about, especially in areas such as education and health.

I am also concerned by the evidence that people are turning on each other, namely, public sector workers versus private sector workers, employers versus employees, the rural and farming sector is being criticised by the urbanites and social welfare recipients are being criticised by those who are working. That unrest is of great concern to a society such as ours. I fear there is an underlying sense of anarchy that is ready to surface and we should be ready to act on it.

There are many honest bank employees and some of them are being turned on by the public. That should be a source of great concern to all of us as public representatives. This has all been driven by pure greed. It has been driven by the revelations in the banking system, the lack of corporate governance and the current lack of truth and honesty. The Government must take responsibility for oversight, corporate governance and the governance of the regulatory system. It is only right that the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the fraud squad are in Anglo Irish Bank. I hope it is not too little, too late. The full rigours of the law must be brought to bear on the incestuous inter-bank relationship we have witnessed in this country. We need a purge of the banking system at the top level before we can restore integrity and confidence in the system and in the economy. This evening's Fine Gael motion focuses on that. It is disappointing that despite all the soundbites from the Government on improving working relationships in Parliament the Government side has tabled an amendment. It is a pity that has happened.

I call for a debate on employment and competitiveness in this country. Serious pressures are evident in the manufacturing industry. Competitiveness is at an all-time low and we are seriously struggling as an economy. More than 3,600 apprentices have been made redundant in the past year. I congratulate the ESB on its initiative in taking on 400 apprentices to finish their qualifications. I urge other companies to step up to the mark in this regard, for example, Eircom. It was a large semi-State company that has its networks falling down around the country. I would like to see Eircom and other large companies step up to the mark and take on apprentices.

More importantly, I would like to see Government initiatives for apprentices and the unemployed. We need to give hope to young people who are on the dole. It would not cost much to set up schemes to take them off the dole. For example, local authorities have boarded-up houses throughout the country. People could be employed on constructive schemes to re-open houses to take people off the housing list. We need to think outside the box. As a representative of Government, I ask the Leader to get the Government out of the comatose state it is in, start thinking outside the box, send out positive signals to our citizens, take the young people off the dole and give them hope. There are ways and means of doing it and we, as an Opposition, are prepared to assist the Government if it would only listen.