Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

The establishment of a national recovery bank would allow money to be pumped straight into small businesses, which are closing left, right and centre.

We face serious problems in that too many houses and commercial developments are lying empty and some areas lack adequate infrastructure. One estimate suggests that up to 340,000 houses are lying empty. I commend the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Finneran, on his work in the area of housing but we have to fill those empty houses with people because otherwise they will be demolished. I do not know what will happen to the considerable number of small commercial developments which already exist but there will be little need for further such developments for a long time to come. Perhaps the Government could find a way of leasing them or offering them for free to start-up businesses.

I have raised the issue of tourism on numerous occasions. I welcome the appointment of the new Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and wish her predecessor the best of luck. I know he is suffering bad health at present and perhaps that was part of the problem. We have lost out in terms of tourism over the past several years.