Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I wish the Cathaoirleach well on the occasion of his retirement from the Seanad. I do not know of any other Member who is as widely respected for the way he has carried out his duties over the past four years. He can be rightly proud of the steely and commonsensical contribution he has made to this House.

We have had an informed debate, with a total of ten contributions from all sides. I thank the former Leader and other Senators for their kind remarks.

Senator Dearey forcefully reminded us that we have not focused sufficiently on unemployment. Despite all the fiscal, banking and jobs problems this country faces, however, 1.8 million people continue to work in this country, or 800,000 more than was the case 11 years ago. The Government's absolute priority must be to preserve every single job. I concur with Senator Walsh that we have to improve our competitiveness and we are making huge strides in productivity. One of the reasons we have done well is because wages have decreased and our productivity has improved. We can do more, however, and we have to keep every individual who is at work in his or her position, even as we create new jobs in areas such as tourism and agrifoods. We have not concentrated sufficiently on goods we can produce more cheaply and better than others. We have failed to develop an industrial policy which concentrates on what we need to achieve.

Senator O'Toole asked about the wide variation in projections for growth. Last week the Central Bank predicted a growth rate of 0.9%, IBEC predicted 1.3% and the IMF predicted 0.5%. The Government's assessment, which is, of course, the best one, will be published next week. I remind Senators of the point made by Garret FitzGerald that small open economies that go down quickly can return to growth rapidly if we put in place the right domestic policies.