Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Chomhaontas Ghlas as ucht an rún seo a chur roimh an Seanad anocht.

I welcome the motion which was tabled by the Green Party and which has drawn focus on the need to support microfinance. Equally, I welcome the amendment to the motion, put forward by Senator O'Toole, other Independent Senators and Fine Gael, which broadens the original motion in terms of what needs to be done to support credit unions in particular. We need to discuss not alone credit unions but microfinance.

There is no doubt but that the growth of the credit union movement throughout Ireland during the past 30 to 40 years has been great, with people living in economically deprived communities and areas of social disadvantage enabled, for the first time, through the establishment of credit unions, to access financial services which until then were unattainable to them. We all know the reasons we support the credit union, namely, it is community based, is open to anyone irrespective of economic circumstances or whether they have assets and is widely referred to as the people's bank which offers a life-line to those not eligible for a bank loan. As it becomes more difficult to make day-to-day financial transactions without a bank account, all restrictions on credit unions in offering a wider range of financial services to meet customer needs should be removed.

It is essential that people have access to the most competitive rates for savings and borrowings given the recent downturn in the financial climate. The credit union is a community based institution and its funds are an additional income from expanded services and should be available to be invested in the social economy for the benefits of the community to which the credit union belongs. Last week, we debated a report produced by me as rapporteur of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The issue of microfinance is one on which we focused as it is an alternative initiative to the credit unions, which can and should encourage enterprise development.

Every year, there are 2 million business start-ups in Europe, of which 90% employ fewer than five people. Micro-firms play a significant role in the development of rural economies. Given that they are flexible in responding to the changes in the global economy, greater focus should be placed on supporting microfinance institutions. For this reason, I welcome the motion tabled by the Green Party.

As stated, microfinance is the provision of finance of less than €25,000 to individuals wishing to start up and develop their own business. It is evident from studies that businesses which start up with less than €25,000 are often very successful. First Step is Ireland's only microfinance institution. To date, it has assisted more than 1,500 projects which have created 3,000 job opportunities, and that is to be welcomed. The report which I produced on the west of Ireland examined the success of First Step, the majority of whose customers are located in the greater Dublin area. There is a need to support microfinance on a larger scale than heretofore. Consideration should be given to enabling this type of support in the western seaboard areas, the north west and other areas which could benefit directly from the availability of such institutions to those communities suffering as a result of the economic downturn in terms of inaccessibility to funding.

I would have preferred that a compromise motion had been tabled. While what is contained in the amendment is warranted, unfortunately it deals only with credit unions, not microfinance. What Ireland needs now is a job creation strategy to stem the financial crisis. While public sector savings and public finances must be examined, what is glaringly absent from Government is a job creation strategy, as highlighted by the live register figures released today by the Central Statistics Office. The Government needs to cop on that Ireland urgently needs this type of strategy. It needs a job creation strategy as this financial crisis grows day by day. The failure of Government to bring forth such a strategy in last October's budget has propelled this State into its worst unemployment crisis in history, as evidenced by the figures released today by the Central Statistics Office.

While we need to examine public sector savings and reform of taxation and to address wastage and the gap in our public finances, the number one priority for all of us and of Government at this time must be to get Ireland back to work. We must introduce a strategy to recreate the 1,000 jobs a day currently being lost. We need to fast-track business start-ups and to create a sales Ireland strategy that maximises our existing indigenous export market and develops growth prospects in the medium to longer term. We need to foster and develop a real innovation culture. While success is possible, it will not happen until such plan is developed and delivered by Government. If the Government fails to deliver this plan, perhaps it is time for it to go and to allow someone else to deliver it.

I welcome the motion although I would have liked to see a compromise motion. While more needs to be done to support credit unions, more also needs to be done to support microfinance which could assist in our job creation strategy. However, this of itself will not put people back to work. We need an overall strategy. I welcome the motion but will be voting for the amendment. I reiterate I would rather have seen a more comprehensive amendment that includes support for microfinance as indicated in the original motion.