Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I, too, welcome the fall in the live register figures. It is a positive news story this morning. Having spoken to some employers over recent weeks, they are determined to get the heads down, plough on and get out of this recession as quickly as possible despite all the factors against them.

I was disappointed to hear this morning of more than €300 million of the capital budget of the Department of Education and Skills not being used. There are so many projects on the list that need to be built right now - the Loreto school in Wexford is one that springs to mind - that we should move immediately to building those projects as soon as possible. When we look at the way schools projects are dealt with by the Department of Education and Skills, and even planning projects within the Department of Health and Children, it beggars belief that it takes years for an ordinary school with four walls to move from one stage in the planning department to another. I cannot understand why that takes so long. In the private sector it does not take nearly as long. Why have we so many people employed to do these things if they cannot even be done in a speedy or even an average normal fashion? If a person was building a house, a hotel or whatever, it would not take even a quarter as long. The matter needs to be debated and I would ask the Leader to hold such a debate soon.

The debate on Seanad reform last night was embarrassing for Members on the Government side of the House because we too believe in Seanad reform. It threw up the archaic nature of our systems and procedures in this House. We really need to look at them because we all believe in Seanad reform.