Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on competitiveness. I am of the view that an issue arises in the context of the minimum wage, which is an inhibition to job creation in certain sectors of the economy. Members who are in contact with business people will be well aware that the joint labour council agreements which apply across many industries are a major obstacle to competitiveness. People have been made unemployed and some have been encouraged to enter the black economy as a result of these agreements. This matter must be addressed and the agreements must be set aside. It was fine to establish rates of pay in the good times. However, two or three years later we cannot afford those rates. This is similar to buttressing the salaries that obtain in the public service.

I agree with Senator Ó Murchú in respect of Nos. 15 and 16 Moore Street. It is essential that these two buildings be preserved, maintained and placed in public ownership in order that they will be there for future generations to see. It would be a travesty, in the run up to the centenary of the 1916 Rising, which ignited the War of Independence and led to our subsequent freedom from the British, if we did not give the utmost priority to preserving the heritage of the era to which I refer.