John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

The Green Party will have to serve in government for a long period before there will be a Green Party national holiday on 1 February.

Senator Fitzgerald referred to an issue that was raised during the debate on the NAMA legislation by Fine Gael Senators and other Members, namely, the provision of relief to individuals and families who are in danger of losing their homes. I have been contacted - I am sure the position is the same for other Members - by a number of people who are in difficult circumstances, who have lost their jobs or who are now only working part time and who cannot meet their mortgage repayments. The properties owned by many of these individuals are worth only a fraction of the original price paid for them, that is if they could be sold in the first instance. I welcome the fact that the Government is considering introducing some measures to assist in alleviating the suffering of the families and individuals to whom I refer. Such assistance should have been provided well before now but perhaps it is better late than never.

Would it be possible for the House to discuss some of the contents of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the severance package given to Mr. Rody Molloy on his resignation from the position of chief executive of FÁS? It is disgraceful and morally unjustifiable that the Government, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister for Finance and their friends from the Green Party in Cabinet would sign off on a deal which was worth almost €900,000 above the norm to Mr. Molloy. In the process, they broke their own guidelines and have ensured that, for want of a better expression, a friend of Fianna Fáil received a golden handshake which is almost €1 million above the average for such payouts and which will be funded by the taxpayer.

The Seanad is not represented on the Committee of Public Accounts, which is a select committee. However, it should engage in a debate on the report to which I refer as soon as possible. I do not refer to the holding of a general discussion on FÁS, which has already taken place, I am referring to a debate on the severance package the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment agreed with the former chief executive of FÁS.