Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Much of this material will be discussed during today's important debate. I welcome the fact that we are having the debate on a day when it is highly topical. This is something we have always sought and I look forward to the contributions from Members on all sides of the House. However, Senator Fitzgerald has raised a very important issue. Questions are being raised which we must examine from a disinterested or non-political viewpoint. I can understand somebody getting figures wrong or being wrong, but I wish to be reassured that information was not kept from us. We need to hear today how the Government went from the position it held two years or one year ago on the banks to the one it now holds and about the steps that brought the figure from €5 billion to a possible €34 billion or the more likely €29 billion. I seek an honest assessment, to which I will give an honest response. It will not be an effort to set the Minister up for a fall. I simply wish to know how we reached these positions. I can understand how no one can have great certainty; therefore, what has happened today is important. However, it is awesome and terrifying and we need to be together in dealing with it. In that context, certainty is required on a number of issues.

We had a debate yesterday in which my colleagues, Senators Harris and Buttimer, took strong positions on the public sector. Obviously, Senator Buttimer's position is closest to mine, but that is not the issue. The points raised by Senator Harris must be discussed. While we were speaking in the House, two men, Mr. David Begg and Mr. Jack O'Connor, were outside the gates being threatened, barracked and jeered because they were taking a responsible position in an effort to ensure Irish workers would not end up on the streets, as they were being pressurised to do by European colleagues. It is not as simple as cutting costs, as Senator Harris would maintain. The Croke Park agreement is not just about cutting costs. While there is a requirement to reduce numbers and costs, it is also about service quality, which the Members of this House will be demanding time and again. The importance of the agreement is that whatever we do will be done on the basis that people buy into it, see the national position and recognise they must take a hit and that service quality, effectiveness and productivity must be at a higher level than anywhere else in Europe. That can be done if we work together. However, I seek recognition in the House of what responsible trade union leaders — I am not saying every trade union leader is responsible — are trying to do to help the country to get out of this situation. They are showing the moral courage which is lacking in many other parts of Irish society. They are standing up and taking the hit.

I will conclude on a less international matter, the name of my home town Daingean Uí Chúis — Dingle. Thug an Rialtas geallúint dúinn go ndéanfaí athrú ar ainm an bhaile, that it would go back to its original Irish and English titles of Daingean Uí Chúis and Dingle. I seek an indication of the timescale involved. It is a matter of huge concern to people i Chorca Dhuibhne atá ag maireachtáil i gCorca Dhuibhne agus atá ag brath ar an ainm sin ó thaobh tionsclaíocht agus turasóireacht, mar shampla. It is a brand product and name they need.