Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Fine Gael Party for putting a good motion before us on which we have had a good debate, but I will be supporting the amendment to it. I am delighted Fine Gael has put forward some good ideas with which I could certainly agree. It is a much more positive approach for an Opposition party to put forward proposals, with many of which the Government can agree and is already implementing. This Government was the first to devise a Government green energy policy. This is part of what the Government will do over the course of the next five years. I am glad Fine Gael wants to dovetail its ideas into that policy and many of the ideas put forward are already part of it. That is a positive approach.

I proposed a number of weeks ago when the Minister responsible was in the House that the National Pensions Reserve Fund should be extended. The Government was prudent to ensure the provision of such a fund. We are lucky it provided it as it has facilitated the recapitalisation of the banks and such moneys invested in the banks at a substantial return. That is the way to go.

It is important to realise that while there will be upward adjustments in taxes and so forth to meet present day spending, we need to recognise the significance of the insulation grant and public demand for it. The public is buying into this and we should extend the initiative, thus boosting job creation. That would be a welcome investment.

It is important as well to recognise that nothing needs to be added to the National Pensions Reserve Fund. The Government could decide that a dividend payment could be made by that fund to incentivise investments mainly being made in the country. While we could invest outside the country, one can see from the performance of investments outside the country being made by companies such as Canada Life, Hibernian Insurance, etc. that they are not managing people's pensions funds very well. Anything between 25% and 50% this year will be lost on pension schemes. We would be far better off offering a smaller dividend to keep our money at home and have it invested in the economy. That should be the way forward and Fine Gael seems to be agreeing with that.

Wind, solar and wave energy were mentioned. We should be leaders in this regard and I am sure we will be, but this is in its infancy at the moment. I do not believe wave energy has been developed in any economy. We are further advanced in that regard than most other economies. We should be doing more with micro-wind and solar energy in the context of housing. I believe there is enormous potential in that for investment in renewables. Smart metering, which the Minister is introducing in a scheme of 60,000 or 70,000 houses, will be a great boost to the economy. If such houses are producers of solar and wind energy, they will be able to sell it back into the grid. However, this requires every house in the country to have a smart meter. I believe this would be a major step forward. That is part of the policy and this is why the Fine Gael motion is very welcome because it supports that policy.

It is encouraging that when our backs are to the wall we are not scoring political points. It is incumbent on other parties to do what Fine Gael is doing, namely, putting forward solutions. If one puts forward solutions one cannot be criticised. However, when one criticises without offering solutions, that is not a very political way of finding answers for the problems we now have.

With the budget coming on stream, it is important as well to look at the possibility of having a directory of skills available to us, as I mentioned on the Order of Business. The Minister might look at compiling such a directory of skills through the unemployment system to see precisely the type of people we have who might need to avail of upskilling. Most of them will not need to upskill, however, since a good many are professionals. We could use those professional skills if we knew their extent. Such people perhaps could do improvement schemes through FÁS.

We should remember that FÁS has €1 billion at its disposal and we should examine how that money is being spent and whether it might be diverted towards other objectives. Should we have an entrepreneurial section to promote small business starts? That could be a worthwhile move instead of looking at the negatives. Instead of the €21 billion payout every year, we might examine how this could be used more intelligently while ensuring the unemployed have a better chance either to upskill or start new businesses. Perhaps the Minister might consider that as part of any new budget initiative. We have to come up with ideas. Taxation is only a small part of the solution, so I would suggest this is important.