Eoghan Harris (Independent)

Consensus means there is an agreement to agree on something, it does not mean there is agreement on what that something should be. These are early days. I congratulate the Green Party and Senators Bradford and MacSharry from opposite sides of the House for their persistence in that regard, as it is what the people want. Deputy Rabbitte of the Labour Party has announced he is puzzled by it. I am not as puzzled as the Taoiseach's colleagues in not understanding his slowness in grasping the merits of a proposal that would puzzle Deputy Rabbitte. He should have grabbed it from day one because if the end product was to puzzle Deputy Rabbitte it had great merits which he should have seen from the beginning.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on an issue raised by Senator Ó Murchú, our response to the recession which is not a product like the First World War but more of a process like the Second World War. It is rolling. Therefore, our reactions to it must be continually responsive. In that regard, I read this morning Dr. Peter Bacon's suggestion that some of our national assets should be sold in order to meet the difficulties of mortgage holders. Whatever about the merits of such a suggestion, it was a reminder that we do have wealth and national assets that could be sold. There is, therefore, money to be invested. It was an imaginative response by Dr. Bacon.

This House has an extraordinary wealth of political experience, as Senator Ó Murchú says, at the practical or sharp end of life. We are not the best in the world at planning, but we are and always have been extraordinarily good at imaginative improvisation under pressure. However, we have not had a chance to utilise that extraordinary ability. Under Daniel O'Connell, we improvised by organising mass meetings and engaging in mass agitation. We also improvised during the land war and by engaging in guerilla warfare. We improvised in relation to everything that was considered valuable in the State. Perhaps we might have a debate to allow Senators, without being put under pressure by the Whip or party, to share with us their views on how we might think outside the box, do radical things and use the Irish imagination in dealing with the recession.