David Norris (Independent)

I ask the Leader to arrange a general debate on economic and financial matters. In the past, I criticised the previous Government for dithering. We now have a Government that has unprecedented control over every single organ and lever of Government and power, yet we have the same kind of dithering, which I find astonishing.

The Taoiseach indicated he would address the nation. This would be welcome if we got clear vision from it. Now I understand RTE does not know if this address is going ahead and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, does not seem to know if it is going ahead either. This creates further confusion. It shows a classic lack of leadership and vision which is replicated throughout Europe.

We saw the extraordinary spectacle of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy summoning the Prime Minister of Greece, the home of democracy - if it is not a criminal office to use a classically derived word in the demeaned society in which we now live - imposing a lack of a referendum on the citizens of Greece and telling the Prime Minister he cannot consult his own people. How is that for democracy? They then imposed an unelected eurocrat. After 14 years of the scandal of Mr. Berlusconi in Italy, which everyone tolerated, they now move in and get rid of someone who should have been got rid of and put in another unelected eurocrat.

The system itself is corrupt and doomed. When Members of this House were gloating at what they saw as the death of communism, I said they might, in their own lifetimes, find themselves attending the obsequies of capitalism. I believe this is what is happening. The market is not as it was understood in previous centuries. It is skewed in favour of huge financial interests. The ordinary person has no rights whatever and the entire system is completely corrupt.

What is happening about the ratings agencies? These malignant toadstools were spawned by the economic disaster for which they were principally and criminally responsible. They have never been held to account. They have fed upon this corruption and grown to the point where they are now rating not only companies but governments, and not just governments but the strongest and biggest economy in the world. Who are these malignant mushrooms and what can be done about them? I have been speaking about this for three or four years. I would like to see something done about them.

There is one future for this planet, if we take it seriously. First, we must look at the underlying cause, which is perfectly simple. When I did my intermediate certificate there were 3 billion people on this planet. We have now passed the 7 billion figure. That must have an effect on resources and on tensions between states and needs to be looked at.