John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

There are four cornerstones to the Government's strategy for recovery, the first of which is closing the gap in our public finances. Our deficit, which currently stands at €20 billion, is being met through borrowing. Prior to the downturn, we enjoyed significant surpluses of €22 billion during the years 2005 to 2007. It makes sense for the Government to ease cuts and taxes into the economy in recognition that the world economy will pick up and that, for our size, we are a major trading and exporting country. Even this year, in what might be called the eye of the storm, exports have increased on last year's figures.

Further to what previous speakers have said about Ireland as a flexible economy, we are in a good position for the future because we were well placed to meet the current crisis. People predicted a slowdown or a soft landing in property prices but nobody can claim they foresaw that the world economy and the financial system would totter at the precipice last year. The most important reasons for this crisis were the instantaneous availability of credit to people who were not in a position to make repayments and a total lack of regulation in the international sector. These factors nearly brought down the financial system, which in turn would have destroyed economies.

Fianna Fáil has no brief for the banking sector; our brief is for the economy. The way to keep the economy vibrant is to ensure a proper banking sector. We have succeeded in this task. We ensured Ireland's banking sector continued through the eye of the storm by means of a Government guarantee. How much money might have left this State or how many banks might have failed in the absence of this guarantee is unknown. Had one of the major banks failed, we would be facing a depression scenario in which one third of people were unemployed. Sadly, we were not supported by everybody, especially in regard to Anglo Irish Bank. One Opposition spokesperson even said we were bailing out our developer friends. Nothing could have been further from the truth because we hold no brief other than to do what is right for the country. It is not as if all the political wisdom held by Fianna Fáil went out the window and we decided instead to look after the better-off while forgetting about everyone else. That never happened but, unfortunately, such are the claims made against us.

One of the main reasons the international banking sector almost collapsed was greed and a "Pirates of the Caribbean" attitude toward finances. The bonus system played a major part in this. Had the managing director of Lehman Brothers received a bonus of $1 billion in 2007 rather than $500 million, I do not doubt we would now be looking at a 1929 style depression. It is incumbent on us to add our voice to the G20 and at the EU and UN to ensure this never happens again.

Our other remit is to protect jobs and restore competitiveness. There is no doubt that competitiveness is returning in the private sector by virtue of necessity. We had priced ourselves out of manufacturing and the property bubble did nothing to help. We would have been in a worse situation had that continued but we appear to be regaining our competitiveness. No job is safe if it is not competitive.

As people have seen the danger of bank failures and a recession, they are not spending. The only way we will get people to spend is by assuring them we will continue to introduce policies that ensure the stability of the Irish economy. At present, large sums of money are deposited in Ireland banks which would normally be circulating through the economy. In other words, people are saving or paying down debts and this money is not available for the type of ordinary spending which contributes to tax revenue. However, people will start to spend again because they will see the commitment of the Government to putting our economy on a solid footing.

The last point I wish to support - there are other points I wish to make for which, unfortunately, I do not have time - is the question of the repossession of houses. One of the most difficult things to hear is that this has happened to a family. It has a special resonance for the Irish people, in particular, when we think about the evictions during the days of the struggle with landlords. In particular, I am aware with 17 years with a building society, First Active, that there must be a change in legislation, not only to protect the home owner but to protect the lender. My suggestion is that the Government would look seriously at allowing the lender, which heretofore had no recourse other than the courts, to take an equity interest in the property if the money has not been paid back willfully by the borrower, in other words, that we would allow the bank or building society to take an equity interest on an ongoing basis and any income surplus to requirements by the person who is not willfully paying could be sequestered and garnered from his or her income. In that way we would ensure there would not be repossessions, which are so unnecessary, in the marketplace.