Feargal Quinn (Independent)

People used to ask whether someone was in the GPO in 1916. Our descendents will ask those of us who are Members of both Houses where we were when this crisis occurred. Today is not a day for blame. It was interesting to hear people say let us avoid the blame game. Let us remind ourselves of the importance of what the Minister for Finance is trying to achieve tonight. He is trying to ensure control over the future remains in our hands as much as possible. Let us ensure we support that.

Let us look at what happened to Latvia. It ran into similar difficulties to us. It handed matters over to the International Monetary Fund and ended up with a 30% reduction in the number of public sector employees, a 30% reduction in public sector pay, 37 of 76 state agencies were closed, 17 hospitals out of 75 were closed, the teacher-pupil ratio was changed dramatically and there were increases in taxes. It solved the problem but it was not in their own hands. They did not make those decisions.

We have a problem which may or may not be our fault but let us stop talking about blame. Let us ensure we support those going into battle for us. Let us ensure when our descendents ask us where we were in these years that we say we were Members of these Houses and we were responsible for whatever decisions were made. Let us ensure we can look back knowing we did as good a job as we could do.