John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

We are all talking doom and gloom and it might be time we took a positive look at some of what is happening. When I became a Member of this House 30 years ago, 800,000 people were in employment in this country. There are now 1.8 million people employed. We should debate how we can come up with ideas which will help to create further employment. Employment is needed as much as anything else. Naturally, people who are dependent on social welfare feel neglected and left out. It is imperative we hold a debate as soon as possible on how employment can be created and that we allow everyone to throw his or her sixpence into the pot to see what comes from it.

I support what Senator Norris said in regard to the Taxi Regulator who has taken a decision to ban cars more than nine years old. Any vehicle which passes the national car test and the public service vehicle test should be entitled to be used. We should ask the Minister to go to the Taxi Regulator to see what can be done to reverse this decision. It is wrong that people will be forced out of business because their vehicles are too old. As far as the general population is concerned, age cannot be used as a mechanism to discriminate against someone, so it should be the same when it comes to cars. People should be entitled to use these cars as long as they meet all the safety standards.