Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I join others in calling for a debate on the economy, especially how it is affecting our citizens, in particular those who are trying to keep their homes. I completely agree with Senators Fitzgerald, Buttimer and MacSharry about people who are desperately trying to hold on to their homes. More than 100,000 people in Ireland are struggling to pay their mortgages, equivalent to one in eight. Some of these people go without food and borrow from their families as well as from this, that and the other to try to keep their homes.

This is a very powerful constituency, and I am sure there are more. It is a massive number of people and I assure the House that if one or two decide to form a coalition with all the others in a similar situation, stop paying their mortgages and treat the Government in the same way as they have been treated by this country, then we will stand up and take notice. It will take €30 billion to pay off the Anglo Irish Bank debt, equivalent to two to three years of taxpayers' money. It will take another three years to pay off Bank of Ireland and AIB. What the Government has done to the country is criminal, and I rubbish this consensus proposal, because it is not fair. This Administration has been in power for 12 years and has run the country into the ground. I really resent Senator Boyle calling for a consensus. While I appreciate the country is in a very serious situation, I ask right now for people to be conciliatory, to care for those about to lose their homes and to find ways to ensure they can remain in their homes.