Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I support the call for a debate on pre-budgetary issues. We should do this in advance of the summer recess. As we are still borrowing somewhere north of €22 billion to meet expenditure in the current year, there are serious issues involved. There is a growing trend in the black economy that people are happy to work for €5 or €6 an hour and still draw social welfare payments. That undermines legitimate employers who are trying to comply with the law. We need to look at over-regulation in matters such as the minimum wage. If it feeds into unemployment, we should examine the issue intelligently. I cannot see any valid economic reason we should pay far more than any other state in Europe.

That is not sustainable and ultimately it will retard any economic recovery we might have. The real conundrum in all this is that should the US economy decline next year we will all be affected by it. The global background will be a very significant issue as to our recovery. I agree with Senator O'Toole and others who have said that there are positive indicators that would lead to the hope - maybe more than a hope - that we are on the road to recovery, but we need to be very mindful of the risks and to manage it in a prudent way. The recent issue in Greece has illustrated very clearly for any naysayers the wisdom of the approach being taken by the Government and the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, in particular. If other countries had followed that, perhaps the recent global difficulties would not have occurred.