David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I strongly support the call by Senator Whelan for a discussion on the role of the media in the State. Often when such a call is made, politicians are accused of being opposed to freedom of speech. However, the opposite is the case. The point being made, which I would also make, is that the monopoly a certain number of individuals have of the media in this country and abroad is a contradiction and does not allow proper freedom of speech. It is not inclusive and diverse opinions are not allowed because of the class of people that is represented by some of the people who own the media in this country. If we have a discussion on the media, we should include both the public and private sector State broadcasters as well.

I also support the calls for a discussion on the Keane report. I offer my sympathy to the people in Aviva Insurance who have lost their jobs. Senator Mulcahy gave a powerful speech this morning about unfairness in society generally and referred to the Keane report. As I pointed out yesterday, a single unguaranteed bondholder will be paid €700 million on 2 November and €1.2 billion next January from money that we are borrowing from the IMF and the European Central Bank to pay back unguaranteed bondholders. Politicians on the other side of the House tend to drop their heads and sigh when I raise these issues, perhaps because I raise them continuously. However, I do so because they are the most important issues facing this State.

We are to have debates on the Keane report and on other matters but, as Senator Ó Clochartaigh said earlier, at the same time we are giving away the family jewels through privatisation of State assets and giving away money we are borrowing to bondholders who speculated and gambled. These are unguaranteed bonds, so there is no moral or legal responsibility on the State to do so. Yet that is what the Government is doing. That is two-faced, to be frank. There is no point in saying anything else. We cannot on the one hand say we must do more for people who are struggling to pay their mortgages if, on the other hand, the Government is writing a cheque for €700 million to a bondholder to whom it has no responsibility. The figure is absolutely shocking but that is what this Government is doing. It is following in the footsteps of the previous Government. Again, I call on the Leader of the House to have a discussion on this.

Finally, I welcomed the efforts of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, to develop a plan for the south east, in which he will examine job creation and bring forward plans in that regard. When that plan is developed, he should bring it before the House. I am sure that many of the issues that are relevant to the south east and Waterford are also relevant to regions throughout the country, and many of the issues dealt with in that report will be relevant to what we must do to support job creation not just in the south east and Waterford but throughout the State. Let us be honest, the recent jobs initiative by the Government has failed.