Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit úr agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis as na cúraimí nua atá aige.

This is an important debate. When I speak after Senator O'Malley, my script usually goes out the window because she gives me so much food for thought and says so much with which I disagree that I must respond to some of her points. I have always said that what we say in the House is based on our ideological positions - what we believe is fair and right - and no one here, whether in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin or the Labour Party, sets out to hurt the people or the community, but the reality is that one's decisions and priorities do hurt people.

Senator O'Malley has said we need to do the best for the country, but it is clear that from the Government's point of view what is best for the country is best for the banking sector, as it wants to get that sector up and running again. I take a different view. If we are to stand by the country, as the previous speaker said, we must stand by its citizens, those who are sending text messages to radio shows today to say they support the sentiments expressed in the over-exaggerated headline in the Irish Daily Star because they feel it reflects their mood. The disgust with the banking sector, developers and the approach of the Government can be clearly seen in the lack of support in the last few months for its plans for economic recovery.

The Government has not, as the previous speaker said, acted swiftly. My oldest son is not even in primary school; he will enter later this year. However, when he is sitting the leaving certificate, he will still be paying back the loans announced last night in the Dáil. That is not swift action; it is pain that is being inflicted on the people which will recur. It is wrong that this has happened in the first place and that we are in this position. It is wrong that the Government prioritises the banking sector over its citizens and that we intend to penalise future generations for the sins of the few.

We hear from the Government that the decisions taken yesterday mean we can borrow at the same rate. However, it does not talk about the fact that we have doubled the national debt or that we will borrow €2 billion every year to sort out the mess. It also fails to mention that if we are really serious about sorting out the economy and getting it back on track, the only way of doing so is not to make decisions that ensure we can borrow at the current rate but to work towards a situation in which we will not need to borrow any more. The only way to do this is to create employment.

Over a ten to 15-year period we are talking about an injection of €22 billion to €32 billion and a €50 billion transfer to the NAMA operation. Let us consider what we could actually do with a sum of €22 billion. We could create a jobs stimulus package, as we in Sinn Féin have done and as every party in opposition should be doing. We should be providing solutions and trying to convince the Government that they are sensible solutions that could be adopted. We have shown through our jobs stimulus package that we could create jobs, not only for the young unemployed but for all sections of society. If we were to have a €22 billion jobs stimulus package in the economy, although we are not arguing for this but for a smaller stimulus package, how many of the 450,000 who are unemployed would go back to work? How much would that save in reduced Government borrowings in the future?

We all know that social welfare payments for those lucky enough to be over 25 years cost the State around €10,000 per person. If a person is in employment, the State benefits by around €12,000 in direct taxation. Thus, for every person we can remove from the live register, there is a saving for the Government of more than €20,000. That is the only way we can deal with the deficit. That is where we should be focusing our resources and investing for the next ten years. That is where we should invest the €2 billion the Government has decided to invest in failed financial institutions to rescue a number of investors who gambled on the practices of the banks. It has decided that over the next ten years we will put €2 billion aside to sort out that bad gamble. What we should be doing is putting €2 billion aside in a job stimulus package to get people back to work.

I met a Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, in my home parish in Gaoth Dobhair recently at a meeting with young people who for the past two years have been seeking a youth worker for their area where there are more than 1,000 young people under the age of 25. The project there closed because of a lack of funding. A youth worker is required and co-funding exists for that. The sum required for this year is €27,000. The Minister of State said a decision would be made by the HSE later this month. While I hope that will be a positive decision, the Minister of State said he could not guarantee funding because there is no extra money. I hung about after the meeting and spoke to some of the young people. They do not understand what is happening in the economy or what happened yesterday, but they understand that a significant amount is being put into the banks. We are talking about the Monopoly figures of billions of euro mentioned last night - €20 billion here and €10 billion there - and about the young people in Gaoth Dobhair who want a safe space. One of the young people, a 17 year old, said to one of the volunteer workers: "I am tired of drinking. It is getting me into trouble. I just wish the project was back up and running because it gives me a safe space." We must put money into this and similar projects. We must find the €27,000 that will benefit the real citizens and people of the country rather than the FitzPatricks or the Fingletons or those on the board of NAMA who got increases in pay or Anglo Irish Bank staff who got increases. We must try to bring benefits to ordinary young people, people who have to attend schools in prefabs and people whose mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers are lying on trolleys. These are the people we need to help.

On the day of the first budget that took place after I became a Senator, when the Minister was in the House making his proposals, I walked across the road where I saw two people who were sleeping in a doorway on Grafton Street being moved by the Garda. These are the people we need to bail out. It is sickening that the Government has taken a similar approach to the one taken by the Garda on that occasion. There are other options. The mantra that we are where we are is unacceptable. We are where we are because the Government has taken decisions to prioritise one area over another. I believe the country is better than where we are now. I do not believe in the attitude of burying our heads in the sand or of telling a good story as the previous speaker suggested. I had the opportunity yesterday to sit down with an international investor, a person involved in a group that intends to invest approximately €1 billion in the north west. International investors do not want to be spun a line. They want the hard facts and want to see decisive action. That is what is missing at this point.