Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an tAire Stáit. Senator Carty was going well until the end of his contribution. However, what he said earlier was correct. The banks must play a significant role in job creation and in assisting innovation and enterprise. On today's Order of Business, Senator O'Toole stated that the cost of regulating the banks last year was €39 million and that the figure will increase to €50 million this year. This is another enormous amount of money the people are being obliged to pay out. The practice of bailing out the banks - with no apparent dividend for the people at the end of the process - must be brought to an end.

We may all have different perspectives on economy recovery and job creation. Ultimately, however, we all want to see people across all sectors of society in employment. Hope, vision and a plan for job creation must be provided but none of these has been forthcoming from the Government. Government Members can point to the fact that they are putting the banking system in order and that they have cut spending, reduced the amount of money allocated to Departments, and so on. However, the report of the innovation task force states, "In order to achieve this vision and secure Ireland's economic future we need to significantly increase our current rate of job creation and new company start-ups."

Senator Healy Eames is correct that the Government does not necessarily create jobs, except, perhaps, in the public sector. In that context let us consider the budget, which contains a commitment to reduce corporation tax over a period, introduced in the UK earlier today. This will have significant implications for Ireland, particularly in the context of the new Dublin-Belfast access route, which is a welcome development but which could have a profound affect on the west and the south. Aer Lingus has indicated that there will be no flights out of Shannon to America in the autumn.