Eoghan Harris (Independent)

The three main components of the current crisis, or the long war as I call it, are the collapse in bank credit, the collapse in jobs and, perhaps most importantly, the collapse in the personal ability of people to discharge their debts. It is a pity that the debate initiated by Senators Fitzgerald and O'Toole should have been diverted into a sort of proto-NAMA debate. Time is precious so we should be dealing with current issues on the Order of Business. NAMA can come later.

Personal debt is now a major problem. It touches on what Senators O'Toole, Fitzgerald and Alex White said about the role of the State. I am one of the few people in this House who can speak with some authority on this since, 20 years ago, the only impact the collapse of Communism had on Irish politics was a split in the Workers' Party on foot of a pamphlet I wrote about the collapse of Communism and the future of the left. Against a background of the worst recessionary crisis we have ever had, I am struck by the fact that nobody has seriously demanded a socialist solution, in other words a total state solution. Nationalisation of the banks has been called for on a temporary basis, but people have learned the hard lesson of history that a return to socialism will not do this and neither will a return to naked capitalism.