Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to invite the relevant Minister to the House immediately to address the report in today's media which states that 20 children died in care. I know from my background that these are the most vulnerable children. They also can be the most difficult children to mind when they are in care. The job done by social care workers and assistants looking after these children is incredibly stressful and difficult. The fact that 20 children died while in the care of the State and there is no official way of inquiring into why this happened or what could have been done to prevent it is wrong. Official Ireland is incredibly neglectful of children in care.

I read recently that a Minister neglected to read a report that he commissioned on child abuse and that is a symptom of the neglect by official Ireland of this section of society. I have no doubts about the difficulties in minding these children, but they are very vulnerable and we should have a debate immediately in this House on the issue with the relevant Minister in attendance.

This morning I walked past a picket for the first time in my life as, I am sure, did many Members of this House, even though many of us agree with the concerns of the people who are protesting. This is another issue that will have to be discussed in detail here tonight.

We should continue the debate on the economy. I am not sure how many people in this House feel that we should congratulate Bank of Ireland's decision to take a clone from the board as a successor to Mr. Brian Goggin to resolve the crisis it is in. It should have looked outside Bank of Ireland to choose a new CEO. What we are watching in the banking sector and the economy is like a version of "car crash TV". We are watching things falling around us and there is a sense that nobody is in charge or that the people who are doing something are simply protecting their own interests.

This debate must be moved on quickly. There is an acknowledgement from the public that things are deteriorating faster than we expected, that we probably will have a budget soon after the local elections, that we probably will see an increase in taxation and we will have to see more cuts in the public finances to reduce our level of borrowing in the next couple of years. I do not yet get the sense of urgency required from Government. We should ask the Minister for Finance to come into this House and start talking in real terms about what is happening to the economy. I do not get a sense from the Minister for Finance or the Taoiseach that they are taking on board the concerns about what is happening in the economy. People may agree or disagree with what Mr. David Begg of ICTU is talking about when he puts forward its ten-point plan, but at least it is a plan. I do not get a sense from the Government that it is prepared to discuss the economy in that type of detail.

There is an acceptance that we will have to increase taxes. What taxes we will increase is a matter for us, at the centre of our democracy, to debate. There is a belief that there will be more public cutbacks which should also be debated in this House. Too many people are calling for a so-called "national government". The Opposition is supposed to help out the Government. I do not get the sense that there is anything to talk about.