Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I concur with many of Senator D'Arcy's comments on Europe and on GLEN, The Gay + Lesbian Equality Network. I told the IFA last night that last summer I indicated to GLEN that it surpassed the IFA in the professional approach it took to campaigning and lobbying. While I have reservations about civil partnership legislation, I think the acceptance of diversity is good, but the primacy of marriage needs to be emphasised, in a society where values such as that are being undermined continuously and often unintentionally by the State acting in a way that leads to dysfunction in sections of society.

I support the Leader and the other Senators who spoke on the Europe Union. I mentioned last week there is a dearth of leadership in Europe, both in the economic and financial structures, including the ECB and also at political level. It is unconscionable that almost three years into the most significant economic and financial collapse that we have seen in our lifetime, the greatest since the 1930s, we see the same replicated today. We grew up learning in awe about how bad the 1930s were and the number of people of Wall Street who committed suicide as a consequence of the losses at that time. There is a dearth of leadership in the United States and we should have a debate in this House on it.

To think of the ongoing partisan politics in Washington in a situation where the American fiscal position is almost, if not, insolvent. I think we should ask not just for a slicing of the interest rate, but a significant reduction. There should be a small margin on the base rate. As I said before, Mr. Michael Soden was the first person I heard indicating the depths of the likelihood of the collapse we were facing in June 2008. He said recently that what we need is 20 to 30 year loans. We need to articulate that. I am disappointed that the Minister for Finance has not come to the House for a real incisive debate when we have the capacity and capability to enlighten it and to enhance the decisions and the approach of the Minister and his Government.