Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I wish to raise the issue of Foinse and welcome Senator Ó Murchú's announcement that a meeting is to be held today. It is important that the newspaper should continue. While the Minister comes into this House to pontificate about what he does for the Irish language, it would be a travesty were a newspaper that is required as a source of education and information to be lost.

I echo Senator Quinn's call for a debate on the use and waste of food. I do not blame consumers for the volumes of food that are thrown out of supermarkets. I blame the supermarkets because they are guilty of misrepresentation regarding labelling. Consumers cannot be blamed if they are not properly educated by food labels. We should have a real debate on that.

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Finance to come to the House. Senator Ross is absolutely correct. We claim we want a change in the culture of the banking profession, in the interests of restoring confidence and trust, but that will not happen if we do no more than reshuffle the old heads in the banks. While I accept that some good appointments have been made, the replacement of the old guard with a slightly newer guard does not instil confidence. We have not heard the Minister's opinions on the direction in which banking is going. Senator Ross is right to point out what Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank have done. If we are to have more of the same, the banking profession needs to show all of us more transparency and more honesty. What is the Government's strategy for the banks? This morning, Senator Regan made the good point that it has taken Anglo Irish Bank six months to produce a business plan. It is important for us to have a debate on the banks. More importantly, we should have the rolling debate on the economy that was promised by the Leader. Some 400,000 people are unemployed and that number is rising. More and more people are looking for help to keep their small enterprises in business. More houses are being repossessed. What is the Government saying? The Taoiseach has said he will stay and fight. It should be a question of giving people leadership as they face their challenges, rather than a question of self-preservation on the part of those on the Government side.