Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Undoubtedly the country is facing very severe difficulties, as it has over the past two years. It is an exaggeration, and it concerns me with regard to the signal it would send from the House, to state the Government is in denial, especially in a week when the Taoiseach is working hard in the United States marketing the smart economy approach of the Government. It has tangible support in the €500 million investment with which he is prepared to back it up. We need to acknowledge these things. There are people out there looking for signals as to what will happen and what their prospects are for the future, and we must offer them hope from the efforts that are being put in. We need to do that in an honest and open way. I do not disagree with what Senator Alex White stated about having a constructive debate on how we tackle unemployment, which will be with us for some years as it is in other countries. Also, many Members mentioned the difficult financial position in which people find themselves because of over-leveraging during the good years. Those issues need to be addressed and I would like to see that happening.

I ask the Leader if he could arrange a debate on a matter which appeared last night on RTE television. I give credit to RTE for its good documentary on the Dublin bombings in 1974. This is a matter that has been discussed in these Houses previously. It engaged over a considerable amount of time a sub-committee of the then Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, and a report has been issued. Arising from that, the Dáil made representations to the House of Commons that its members would use their influence to arrive at the truth for the victims. I would like to think the Leader might put the matter on the Order of Business when we resume in the autumn so this issue can be addressed and put to bed in the interests of those people. We have seen the considerable positive response from those who were victims of Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972 and a similar approach is required here in order to lance the pain and anguish which those people have suffered over the past three or four decades. It needs to be done.

Finally, I ask the Leader to arrange when we return a debate on the bankruptcy laws, which appear to be outdated and which are certainly out of sync with other jurisdictions.