Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I begin by supporting Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú in that regard. Given the week that is in it it is appropriate that that issue is raised, and we do not have to wait until the centenary to commemorate those who sacrificed their own lives so that we might have independence and freedom. It is hoped that some day their aspirations will be achieved when, together, the island will move forward as a unit.

I support fully what Senator Darragh O'Brien said about the variable interest rate being charged by the banks. I recall talking to some of my colleagues who were in Cabinet at the time of the crisis in 2008 and they all claim that because of the seriousness of the financial situation they could not allow the banks to collapse at that stage because the economic, fiscal and social fallout would have been of such magnitude that the country would not have recovered, probably for decades. Rescuing the banks has cost the taxpayer and created tremendous problems for individuals but, equally, my colleagues told me that it was their intention that once we got past that emergency they would ensure that the citizens of this country, the customers and the taxpayers, were protected, and there is a real need to do that. The insolvency legislation has not succeeded, which many of us predicted at the time, and as Senator O'Brien rightly said, with the money markets here cheaper than they have ever been it should not be the case that people are paying interest rates of 4.5% or 5%. It is not sustainable and it is not good enough, particularly when many of them are in negative equity.

Senator Bacik called for a debate on school admission policies. I would like to have a debate on that because I have consulted with people in the educational field who tell me that in my own county, and across the rest of provincial Ireland, there is no problem about enrolment but a perceived problem is being generated to promote a particular ideology, about which we have talked a good deal in the past week. There is a need, perhaps in Dublin, for some refinement where people might have difficulties. Generally, however, people of all denominations and none are accepted into our denominational schools but the effort behind all of this is to try to make all schools non-denominational. That is a mistake because we have seen in other countries that tried to move in that direction that parents, and the pupils, gravitate to the Catholic schools because that is where they get the best education, which is ultimately what parents are interested in.