Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Senator Byrne, rightly, raised the loss of jobs in the financial services sector, which is regrettable. These job losses were flagged a long time ago. It is an inevitable but unfortunate consequence of the reorganisation of the banking sector that there will be reductions in jobs at the covered institutions. In response to this, the Government is committed to making available the services of the State, including the employment support services, to provide any direct or indirect assistance to the employees taking up this offer in order to increase their chances of re-entering the work force. A response group has been established in the Department of Social Protection to devise a co-ordinated strategy on the supports required. This strategy will take into account the numbers being made redundant, the locations and phasing in of those redundancies. The Department of Social Protection will ensure the needs of the employees concerned are met through proactive and timely access to a range of income maintenance money advice and employment support services. We hope many of these people will get back into the financial services workforce and that many jobs will be created in the coming years in the sector.

I do not accept the amendment to the Order of Business. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, will be in the Chamber immediately after the Order of Business to discuss legislation to come before the House.

Senator Landy mentioned the household charge and the need for local authorities to be more proactive in its collection. An Post needs to be more competitive in its response to this. I understand that what it suggested for the collection of the charge was not very competitive. Those concerned in the local authorities should be more proactive. We may ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, back to the House to explain further mechanisms in that regard.

Senator Keane spoke about women in politics. I agree that society suffers greatly from the lack of participation of women in politics and in other areas of society. I will try to arrange a debate on the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 the Senator mentioned.

Senator Barrett mentioned the possibility of banning HGVs in the town of Slane. I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister for Transport. The Senator mentioned there was capacity on existing motorways in the area. I am sure that is something the Minister will consider in conjunction with Meath County Council.

Senators Coghlan, Conway and others spoke about a debate on banking. I will try to arrange a wide-ranging debate on this subject. A number of Members mentioned some valid points on banking and it would be appropriate to have such a debate.

We had a predictable analysis of the Government's first year from Senator Cullinane and I am sure we will have another. I am very grateful to Senator O'Brien for the coming motion on the Government's first year in office.