Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I appreciate I am in injury time so I will be brief. I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for giving me the opportunity to speak. I welcome the Minister of State and genuinely wish him and his Government colleagues well in trying to put structures in place which will make our banks work again, because we need to ensure there is a strong credit line and that the banking system is repaired. We cannot have an economy and economic activity without a properly functioning banking system. We have had many debates on the banking and financial crises, and we will need to continue to have more substantial debates.

I refer to what Senator Mary White said. I hope this credit review mechanism works because small business people, farmers and industrialists throughout the country are literally being shut down for the want of credit. The expectation was that once NAMA and the new structures were in place, credit would be made available. The Minister of State would have to concede that strong political signals were given during the NAMA debate that it was a first step towards ensuring credit would flow again. The NAMA piece of the equation has been put in place but credit has not yet been seen. We desperately need to see a return of credit facilities to enterprises and businesses.

As I said recently, all our policies must be about job creation. All legislation and regulations must have as their benchmark whether they will create jobs. The NAMA and banking solution measures which the Minister of State and his colleagues are putting in place must be stress tested against that benchmark as to whether they will create jobs. Unfortunately, jobs have not been created to date. They are being lost because credit is still not available.

I refer to householders, or mortgage holders, with unprecedented debt levels. With the reduced level of economic activity, major job losses and major losses in disposable income, mortgage holders face a crucial point in their ability to repay their mortgages. There is genuine fear among people - I know that is an often used phrase - that their houses will be repossessed. It is much too simplistic to talk about NAMA for householders. If life were that simple, we would have no problems. The Minister of State and his Government colleagues must urgently try to put in place a workable scheme whereby people will be content their houses will not be repossessed and that there is a possibility of light at the end of the tunnel.

The Leas-Chathaoirleach suggested longer-term mortgages, which happens in a number of countries. I am sure there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the mortgage crisis. Shortly, tens of thousands of people will have mortgages worth hundreds of thousands of euro on houses worth perhaps only €100,000. We desperately need to start to talk about those people and their problems.

There is an old phrase that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Every second person seems to be an expert on banking. However, we need to have a robust and sensible debate. We all must start from the point that we need a workable banking system. I wish the Minister of State and his colleagues well. I have grave doubts about what is happening but we need to continue the debate. Will the Minister of State keep at the top of the agenda mortgage holders who are desperately worried about their future and that of their families? We need to keep people in their homes. There is no other way out of this crisis but we must at least ensure people's homes are not repossessed.