Dan Boyle (Green Party)

On that basis, I hope a restoration of social partnership will take account of how decisions need to be made in the future. That said, economic development will be predicated on stability in our economy and that requires the involvement of the social partners. The decisions we have made have put a distance between our economy and those of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Senator Donohoe is correct that the road we are taking for economic advancement could be tricky. We might be on a W curve instead of a U curve in our economic development. Events in Greece could take us down the wrong road.

Senator Hannigan also raised this issue and, as he said, the stabilisation of the euro is important in this regard. In the context of the EU Summit this morning, the Greeks should not be given gifts at this stage. If Greece is to recover, it must take the type of action we have taken as a society and an economy and the eurozone will benefit subsequently because of that.

Senators Hannigan, Mary White, Donohoe and Hanafin mentioned the topic of innovation and the need to support engineering, in particular, as well as focusing on the educational basis of maths and science subjects. Senator Ormonde also mentioned this subject, which should be the focus of an important debate in the House. The Government's own smart economy document is concerned with how we can achieve this, and the subject will benefit from the contributions of all Members of the House.

Senator Ó Brolcháin raised the question of Travellers' health and the issue of the green economy. He was supported in his call for a debate on the green economy by Senator O'Reilly. I would like to see such a debate take place. It is important that we have a proactive, positive debate on the economy in the House.

Senator Buttimer mentioned the new FÁS board. We have passed a Bill that will, it is to be hoped, bring about better governance in FÁS. The new board is formed in a very different way from the old board, which ironically was formed indirectly based on nominations by social partnership bodies, and it is going into a new set of circumstances in which its members will certainly not be given concert tickets but must restore the organisation's damaged reputation. Anyone appointed to the board will go in with that knowledge and, I believe, with the level of duty to public service that will achieve what needs to be done. However, I ask the Senator to refrain from using a phrase he used today and which I have also heard used by his colleague Deputy Varadkar and see constantly in the media. There is no such thing as a failed election candidate. There are unsuccessful election candidates.