Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)

I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Finance to come before the House, provided he can find time in his busy schedule, to discuss the issue of credit unions. It is an absurdity that, according to newspaper reports, credit unions are only able to lend for the first ten days of each month. I am interested in discovering the facts as it appears they are only giving approximately 20 loans of €5,000 each month, which is absurd in the current climate. While some credit unions may have engaged in reckless lending, they were not involved in even a fraction of what the banks were up to. It is somewhat rich of the Central Bank to issue directives to credit unions not to lend beyond the tenth day of the month to people in serious need of finance.

While the issue of teenage drinking raised by Senator Moran is very important, the bigger question is why teenagers would not engage in serious drinking when adults do so. We live in a country where people come out in a rash if they have to attend an event where drink is not on offer. Far be it from me to be a killjoy - I like to socialise as much as the next person - but the culture of drinking and general attitude to alcohol in this country present serious problems, the results of which will become increasingly clear in the years ahead. A strategy is needed to address this problem. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on this issue of serious public importance.