Alex White (Labour)

I support the call by Senator Twomey for the debate next week to which he referred. I already raised the issue, as others have, on the Order of Business of the lamentable failure of the Government to take meaningful steps to engage, particularly with the trade union movement, in the context of what is currently happening. I have two concerns. One is that it may be too late at this stage, that the Government has signalled that it has made up its mind on these issues and, as I mentioned yesterday, in the case of the Taoiseach, it is his way or the highway, and he has no interest in engaging.

My second concern, which I voice not out of disrespect to this Chamber, is that we will hold another debate or series of statements here next week and, while I support the call of Senator Twomey, I wonder sometimes whether those so-called debates achieve anything and whether we need to try to devise a means to invite into our process the people who are engaged in this struggle, the people who represent the 50 or 60 persons whom I have just cycled by in a dole queue less than half a mile from here. That is where the issue is, not, with all due respect to this institution and to ourselves, in here. We need to find a way of engaging much more meaningfully with what is happening in the real world.

In the context of the Deputy Leader's reported comments this morning on what he referred to as "the probability or likelihood of increased capitalisation of the banks" post the NAMA process, and reports this morning of the tightening of the lending criteria of the banks throughout Europe, including in Ireland, I ask one specific question, a question that has been asked repeatedly. Often when one here asks six or eight questions, one does not have much of an expectation of an answer and, therefore, I will ask only one question and I ask the Deputy Leader to address it. I want the answer delivered here rather than in my pigeonhole. The question, which everybody asks, is what basis does the Government have for assuming, or even believing, that the banks will change their lending strategy when the NAMA process has been put through the Houses of the Oireachtas and when the additional capitalisation occurs. As far as I can see, there is no reason for the Government to believe that this will definitely occur. It seems a hope on the part of the Government that this will occur rather than any reasonable expectation that it will occur.

I break my own rule to ask a second question, which is what steps does the Government propose to take, over and above those it is taking in capitalising the banks further, to ensure that the banks will start lending again to businesses and households.