Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an méid atá ráite ag an Ceannaire. In particular, I welcome his commitment to bring some innovation to the business of the House. While the idea of inviting European Commissioners to the House is a good one, we should go further. The current economic challenges are the most pressing issue facing the country. There are many eminent economists of international standing who could make a significant contribution to charting a way forward for us. Unfortunately, however, we are being inundated with commentary by celebrity economists, many of whom are moonlighting from various universities when they appear on media programmes. I am singularly unimpressed with some of the commentary emanating from them because it is not helping the economy and could be doing economic damage.

While I support those who have called for a debate on joint labour committees, JLCs, I ask the Leader to consider framing it in the context of an overall debate on competitiveness. I also ask that the Minister would come to the House to explain the reason certain employees are paid between €3 and €4 per hour more than their counterparts in Germany, our Supreme Court judges are paid more than €100,000 per annum more than their counterparts in the United States and professors in Irish universities and consultants in Irish hospitals earn 50% more than their counterparts on the neighbouring island.