Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, who is a regular visitor to the House.

Senator Twomey dealt with the issue of jobs. One of the few ways we can hope to get the economy moving again is to create jobs which should be export-led. It is all about taking people from the dole queues, as we need to reduce the cost to the Exchequer. There are very few ways we can do this other than by creating jobs in industry, the services sector and tourism. Senator Coghlan referred to tourism and I fully concur with what he said.

I come from County Mayo where in the best ten years for growth in the history of the State only ten jobs were created in industry. That is an indictment of the Government and the way it treated County Mayo in those ten years. That said, a considerable number of jobs were created in the services industry and construction.

That brings me to tourism. Senator Coghlan is correct that we have the product, whether it is fishing or golf. Only today I received a golf magazine from a company in Dublin which has put together packages incorporating hotel accommodation, golf and evening meals. There is unbelievable value to be had compared to some years ago but we are not marketing the industry properly. There is no doubt Fáilte Ireland has fallen down in this regard. As I have said on a number of occasions in the House, we have the product - walking holidays, the best fishing in Europe and the best golf courses in the world. We also have access through the airports at Dublin, Knock, Shannon, Galway, Cork, Kerry and Donegal. Using tax breaks, we have built a vast number of hotels throughout the length and breath of the country. We also have better roads, rail and other facilities. I heard the managing director of Aer Arran being interviewed on television last weekend by Ivan Yates. The managing director said there were 26 agencies dealing with tourism in the west, which is completely ridiculous. That is where we have fallen down. We need to merge all of these agencies into one, two or three which could sell tourism - an international product - in international markets.

On previous occasions I have raised the issue of banking with the Minster for Finance and the Minster of State. Yesterday we saw the value of bank shares fall drastically in the markets because it transpired that, while it was thought the figure for the haircut would be 18%, it would be 25%. As Senator Norris said, this will require an injection of a further €1 billion by the Government which will take a bigger share in the Irish banks. It already owns Anglo Irish Bank and will take a major shareholding in Irish Nationwide also as part of its amalgamation. It will also take a larger shareholding in AIB and Bank of Ireland.

This leads me to the point I raised about charges. I am led to believe various accountancy firms working in some of these institutions, particularly Irish Nationwide which will be wound up, are charging €3,500 a day for their services. I would like the Minister of State to confirm this. If that is the case, we are again going down the route taken by the tribunals. Several Senators referred to the charges being applied. While I received no answer from the Minister or the Minster of State on previous occasions, I am led to believe these are the charges levied by the companies operating in the various institutions. Some €3,500 a day is being charged to evaluate loans and properties that will probably be transferred to NAMA from the institutions which will be amalgamated. Somebody has to be take charge. The Minister for Finance has the powers available to him to take charge and make sure the taxpayer is not ripped off. We are considering taking a few euro off those on the dole and not paying the Christmas bonus, yet, at the same time, we are throwing €3,500 a day at the senior partners in some of these firms.