Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I congratulate him on his performance in the past 12 months, which has been a very difficult time for the Government and the country. What was required politically was straight talk, honest analysis of the problem and a willingness to prescribe the tough medicine that we all know is required. A small number of Ministers, including the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, were willing to be honest and straight with the people, who recognise the scale of the crisis and are willing to be part of the solution provided there is leadership from Government. We need more Ministers who are willing to come forward, as the Minister of State has done in numerous media outlets, to call a spade a spade and outline the facts of the very difficult economic plight in the country and hopefully work towards a solution. I wish him well in his endeavours in that regard.

A very interesting by-election took place in the state of Massachusetts this week. It was regarded as a major surprise that the Republican candidate won. However, all the analysis since the election clearly shows that as far as the people in that state and in every other state in the United States and every other country across the globe are concerned, jobs must be put at the top of the agenda. That was the lesson from the US election during the week. It is all about jobs and that must be the focus of our policy over the next 12 months. We would all have to concede that the December budget, which hopefully will help to bring the country's finances into somewhat better shape, was necessary. It should lay a foundation for job creation and we must keep job creation at the top of the political agenda.

I was interested in the commonsense analysis of the previous speaker, Senator Brady, and his recounting of his discussions with small local businesspeople. He was correct in the comments he made about the difficulties faced by self-employed people when their businesses fall into difficulty. I spoke to one of those people approximately a fortnight ago. This was a gentleman who had worked in the construction industry. Up to a number of years ago he had employed up to 40 people. He paid their taxes and PRSI fully. Everything was in proper order. Unfortunately the economic cycle turned and his business has disappeared down the tube. He is unable to get any help whatsoever from the State. He has two children in third level education. They cannot get a higher education grant because he simply cannot afford to have an accountant to complete the necessary bookkeeping exercises to complete that higher education grant application, which is very sad.

All his former employees, who are not in a position to obtain work, are in receipt of job seeker's benefit to which they are entitled and their families are in receipt of higher education grants etc. However, here is this person who employed 40 people and whose contribution to this economy in the past five to ten years is worth millions. Now he is the man in difficulty and no help is available. The Department of Social and Family Affairs needs to review the issue of classification of social insurance for self-employed people. To the best of my knowledge the only entitlement arising from social insurance contributions made by self-employed persons are to old-age and widow's pensions. A self-employed person whose business collapses is not entitled to job seeker's benefit, illness benefit or disability benefit. That matter needs to be reviewed. We need to build a new generation of entrepreneurs. We need to entice people into self-employment. If they can employ themselves and hopefully somebody else, that is very good news for the economy.

One hears reports from time to time about how self-employed people do not pay taxes etc. Self-employed people have built up the country and employed hundreds of thousands of people. They have more than paid their way in the vast majority of cases and we need to review the terms and conditions of how social insurance applies to such people because we need to provide a safety net for those people when they fall into difficulty. I would like if the Minister of State could ask the Department of Social and Family Affairs to look at that. In passing, I could hardly believe my ears to learn of a decision by the Minister of that Department, Deputy Mary Hanafin, in relation to self-employed persons who had been allowed to make retrospective PRSI payments and were then to be paid contributory State pensions. It affected a couple of hundred people, such as farmers' spouses, and yet last week the Minister took a decision not only to cancel the scheme but to look for the money back. This was a project which the late esteemed Minister, former Deputy Séamus Brennan, had worked very hard to put in place, and then his successor abolished the whole scheme. It is a debate for another day, but certainly I found this to be a very disappointing decision.

In terms of competitiveness, this society must recognise that all of us literally lost the run of ourselves over the past decade or so. There was a marvellous positive side to the Celtic tiger economy and the boom years, but the negatives meant that people ignored the costs, bills were paid without a second thought and value for money as a central aspect of economic activity disappeared. We have to return to a value for money economy. Colleagues on all sides have spoken about energy, telephone and insurance costs. By European standards we are paying top dollar and cannot compete unless those costs are challenged. A degree of progress has been made from an energy costs perspective, but we have a long way to go.

Another issue we need to tackle is professional fees. We all know and are friendly with accountants, doctors and dentists in particular. When the fees charged by such professionals in Ireland are compared with those of their counterparts in other European countries, they are way over the average. I am not sure what the solution is. I recall having to visit a doctor in a small town in Italy, about 18 months ago and paying a fee of €20 along with a prescription fee of around €5. In Ireland the fees would have been €70 for the doctor and probably €25 or €30 for the medicines. How can there be such varying cost levels across the same continent? We are competing for jobs and investment with those countries and we need to look seriously at the whole level of professional fees. There appears to be an inability to ensure there are sufficient doctors, dentists and other professionals available to generate competition. In any event, the present cost base must be looked at.

Social partnership and the many benefits that stem from it were referred to by a number of colleagues. It is important the social partners are engaged in dialogue and debate and we take on board their concerns and worries. However, any light to emerge at the end of the tunnel in recent months has stemmed from the Government making decisions. It was a question of recognising that the job of Government is to govern, listen, consult and decide on the action to be taken. We need more of such decisive Government actions over the next 12 months. I hope the social partners will work with the Minister of State and consult the Government. However, it is vital the Government continues to take the tough decisions necessary to turn the economy around and, from the perspective of this debate, to tackle seriously the costs and some of the sacred cows that have emerged, thus again making Ireland a competitive place in which to set up business.