Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence. I will be supporting tomorrow's national protest at Government decisions. We did not stand up to the banks or the corporate capitalist monsters who brought us to the brink of economic collapse, yet we stand up to the garda, the nurse, the teacher and the worker who is now paying a pension levy, an income levy and a health levy to fund our way out of the recession. We will stand up to them but will not stand up to the people who caused the economy to collapse.

I refer to the headline in the Irish Examiner this week which caught my attention: "Judge orders repossession of record number of homes". In another case of a young couple in County Cavan the headline reads, "They hound us. They want €1,300 a month". This is a young family with three children and in whcih one parent has become unemployed. They are unable to repay the mortgage at the same level but have had to tell their children they will be unable to buy toys this Christmas, yet we have this nonsense. A motion has been tabled with the date Friday, 4 November. Tomorrow is not 4 November and there is not a scheduled day of strike action on 24 November. When our learned colleagues are tabling motions for discussion in the House, they should at least be accurate in their attempts to muzzle the trade unions and workers and to subvert democracy.