David Norris (Independent)

I join Senator Fitzgerald and others in calling for the debate on the establishment of a national assets management agency, which was scheduled for last night, to be taken today. I do so with some force because at the beginning of this parliamentary term, just after Christmas, I made an initial suggestion to establish what I described then, and the record will show this, as a national property management agency. I returned to the issue on three further occasions. My proposal was derided in the House and not reported elsewhere. I believe this is where the idea originated — I certainly referred to it in the House and gave some details. While the Government has started to act, it has done so backwards and incorrectly. I believe its approach could backfire. The House could add to the debate on the issue. Perhaps the Government would listen with greater attention to what is said and get the details right.

I also ask that Mr. Peter Bacon be called to the House to answer Senators' questions about the establishment of a new assets management agency. While I have great respect for Mr. Bacon, I was horrified last week to hear him on RTE radio say that as a result of his proposal, the responsibility would land back where it belonged, namely, with the shareholders of the banks. In what sense were the shareholders responsible or guilty? They acted perfectly legally in investing their hard-earned savings in a national institution. I see no criminality or blame in that respect and feel a great deal of compassion for hard-working people, young business people and elderly people who placed their savings in banks. They should not be held up to contempt and scorned by someone like Mr. Bacon.

I am interested in the commentary of the American analyst, Mr. Krugman, who has derided the Irish economy. We need people out batting for us because Mr. Krugman, for all his Nobel prize in economics and so forth, is playing a domestic economic game and using Ireland as a weapon in an argument taking place in the United States. We should resist that.

I ask for a debate on No. 27, motion 7 on the Order Paper which was tabled by Independent Senators and deals with water supply contamination. One area in which we seem to be better than Britain is in producing e.coli contamination, which is 30 times higher in our water supply than in that of the United Kingdom. In the past year, 120,000 people were told to boil their water from their domestic supply. According to an Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report published this morning, one third of water supply sources in this country are contaminated. It is time we woke up and smelt the water, if not the coffee. We need to do something on this issue, which is coming back home to roost in this House. Only a few Senators supported An Taisce when it pointed out that this would happen as a result of the unregulated development of one-off housing in the countryside. Practically all Senators, and certainly all those on the Government side, ridiculed, derided and lambasted An Taisce. Thank God for that organisation because at least it is awake.