Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the election of the new Pope and wish him well in his future years. As someone who has visited many developing countries, I have seen the incredible work the church is doing on the ground. A member of my family is working in a school with a pupil teacher ratio of one to 70 but still that school can provide a full meal to each pupil every day. There are four schools feeding 4,000 children every day as a direct result of the work of the Catholic Church. The selection of a Pope from outside Europe is a welcome development. It will add to the growth of the church in developing countries and will see a refocus in Europe in terms of the role of the church.

I wish to move on to the issue of banking debt. I am concerned by the alarmist comments of some of my colleagues on the other side of the House and by their suggestions that people will be driven to suicide. Comments like that are unhelpful and may lead to people focusing on the possibility of suicide. It is outrageous that such comments be made in this House. The Government is approaching this issue in a very balanced way. I remind Senators on the other side of the House that yesterday there was a public offering on 10-year debt for Ireland. We were looking for ¤3 billion to be invested but got an offer of ¤12 billion. The Government decided to take ¤5 billion at 4.15%, which is 75% lower than the rate that was offered to Ireland when Fianna Fáil was in power. I urge members of the Opposition not to forget that. Their alarmist comments this morning are outrageous. This Government has brought stability to the country and the proof of that lies in the success of the public offering yesterday. More than 400 investors offered to invest in Ireland. When Fianna Fáil was in power, fewer than 20 would offer money to be invested at any one time. That is the stability this Minister for Finance has brought us. I would love to have the Minister for Finance here to talk to Senators about all of the positive things that are happening, just in case they are not able to read the newspapers themselves.