Feargal Quinn (Independent)

Senator Hanafin asked us to be careful about the words we use and referred in particular to suggestions of riots and protests in response to the budget. One of the Government's objectives in the budget, an objective all of us should have, is securing international recognition from the financial markets. It will be interesting to see if we achieve that. It appears that steps being taken in the pre-budget report in Britain yesterday have not been helpful with regard to the interest the UK is likely to have to pay on its borrowings. It will be interesting to see if the international financiers regard yesterday's budget as a success or failure. The threat of strikes by the public sector unions still hangs over us. Mr. David Begg of ICTU is on the board of the Central Bank. He has the figures before him and is clearly aware of the concerns that exist. My hope is that he will be able to use his influence to ensure that whatever protests or actions take place to argue the unions' case will not damage the country's economy.

Will the Leader draw the Tánaiste's attention to a decision taken by the American authorities last year regarding the introduction of 100% container scanning from 1 July 2012? It is a couple of years away but it involves container scanning of all imports to the United States at the point of export. There will be no cost for the United States but it will mean huge costs for a country such as Ireland. It means that in every port from which we export it will cost tens of millions of euro to ensure every container bound for the United States is scanned. We have been given a couple of years' notice. The Americans are introducing this system to avoid acts of terrorism but it places a huge onus of responsibility on us, is a threat to our exports and will involve huge costs before we implement it. I do not know if the Tánaiste has done anything about it but it certainly requires a discussion with the US authorities which should take place right away.