Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I am impressed with the level of debate from all Senators who contributed today. A wide range of issues were mentioned, some of which did not pertain directly to the results of the elections but may have been contributing factors. There were also a number of interesting comments and suggestions from individual Senators. It goes to show the amount of thought people put into debates such as this. I spent nearly 14 years in this House and I found that people here, by and large, spoke with conviction and thought out what they were going to say. This appears to have been the case today and I welcome it.

I was especially impressed with the comments made by Senator McCarthy regarding job creation and how people with primary degrees could be assisted in raising their skill levels and adding to their qualifications. That is the type of thinking that is required. The area of fisheries was mentioned by some other Senators, including the Leader of the House, Senator Cassidy, who spoke about the opportunities for job creation in this regard, and Senator McCarthy, who spoke about the difficulties in this area.

Senator Ormonde, who has worked in education, reflected on that area and on technology as well as on the need for a change in thinking regarding jobs. She made the point that the Fianna Fáil Party is resilient and is in a position to reorganise itself, get back into the debate on the national issues and get ready for the next general election in three years' time. This has happened in the past, including after the local elections in 2004. As I said in my statement earlier, there were difficulties for Government parties in the last three local elections.

The issue of bailing out the banks has been mentioned by a number of people. It is worth mentioning that this is not the full story. It is important we understand, as Senator Butler stated, that this is an investment that may have a pretty good return in the medium to long term. Already the two main commercial banks have improved their share positions. Bad debts are to be dealt with under the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA. This is a totally new situation for this country. I see that finance houses in America are interested in seeking opportunities among the bad assets in this country.

I am not in a position to say with any certainty or based on any extra knowledge what the final outcome will be, but it is important we ensure lines of credit are open to businesses and individuals, whether to allow them to continue as self-employed or to provide a mortgage to buy a home. It is important banks and financial institutions are in a position to lend, are stable, and that the public interact with them in a normal way as they did in the past. Some of the interactions that went on were totally unacceptable.

I take the point that Senator Butler made about regulation. Shortly after the general election of 2007 I, as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, went to New York and Washington along with a number of committee members. At that stage headlines were appearing in the newspapers about the problem of sub-prime lending in that country. On that visit we found out that 36,000 unregulated brokers had created most of the problems. We found that extraordinary because we were of the opinion that we had set up a regulatory regime in this country that would not allow that to happen. Of course, as it turned out, that was not the case. The regulatory regime in this country turned out to have major faults and had indeed contributed to the situation.

I understand what Senator Ross is saying but I do not think there was anyone who was not taken aback with the speed with which the crisis hit. It is easy to see now that people should have been more alert, but people around the world were not. Responses to the crisis have been slow around the world, particularly in Europe. Members of the Oireachtas called many times for reductions in interest rates, yet the president of the European Central Bank resisted that for a long time. As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, I attended a meeting in Brussels at which he clearly stated that under no circumstances would he recommend the lowering of interest rates on the basis that his first priority was to control inflation. Despite this, he and the board of the ECB had to change their minds later. I am talking about the highest level of financial regulation in Europe.

Senator Coffey and a number of other Senators mentioned the voting register. It is unfortunate, but this matter is raised after every election. With all the expertise we have now, including franchise officers in many of our local authorities, I am amazed we still have those problems, but I will bring these comments back to the Department and contact will be made with the local authorities in this regard.

Senator O'Toole mentioned the independent view, opinion polls and Seanad reform. The issue of Seanad reform is under scrutiny at the moment and some meetings have been held in this regard. Senator Bradford also raised the issue of the voting register and mentioned the electoral system, but that is a matter for a wider debate than we have had today.

I thank Members for their contributions. Elections are what they are: a poll of opinion which has reflected, in this case, that people are unhappy with the Government. However, we must understand that the representatives elected by the people last night voted confidence in the Government by 85 votes to 79. That is where we stand at this point in the life of the Dáil and Seanad.