Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

Tributes have been rightfully paid to the generosity and resilience of our people in the snowy weather during the past few days but it is worthy of mention yet again that the level of restraint and control our people have shown during the economic crisis in recent months is remarkable. Because they have shown this they deserve fairness and hope. What was contained in the Central Bank report yesterday was an affront to fairness. It is a disgrace and an affront to the good people of this country who have acted with great resilience, fortitude and restraint in recent months to witness that bankers are getting obscene bonuses, all their bad practices are continuing and that nothing has changed. That is wrong and it needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. I ask the Leader to make a statement on that specific matter.

People need hope and the only way we can give them hope is by having a job creation strategy. The great anxiety and stress in every home is that young people - graduates, technically trained people and tradespeople - are without work. We need to have a series of debates in this House on job creation sector by sector in the New Year. My greatest objection to the IMF-EU agreement is that it has removed from us the capacity to create jobs immediately by removing the capacity for discretionary spending when such funding could have been used for job creation but it has been assigned to debt repayment all at once. It is shocking that this has happened. I ask the Leader specifically to arrange for a detailed debate early in the New Year on job creation strategies in agricultural, tourism and every sector, even if we have to sit extra days. If we do not do that, it will be an obscenity and insult to the people who have shown such restraint.