Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a fact and it was set out in a report written by Dr. Michael Collins of NERI. This well-researched document, which I have read, was dismissed last week in the House by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. I went back and researched the document again. It is a factual report based on actual facts from the Central Statistics Office. I do not know why Deputy Bruton questioned the figures given that they come from the CSO and are Government figures. They are not my figures or NERI figures; they are from the Government.

In the north west region, zero jobs were created by the agencies while a number were created in the south east. My point is that the focus of economic growth is Dublin and its commuter belt. That is wrong. We need a balanced regional development strategy for the country which includes the north west, the south east and south west. If that does not happen, the emigration cycle that has hollowed out rural Ireland will continue. People will continue to leave not only to go abroad but to go to Dublin. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as we need a strong Dublin. Members spend half the week in Dublin and it needs to be strong. We all support having a good, strong capital city, but we must ensure that the forecast by Teagasc and the CSO that 60% of the population will live within 25 miles of the east coast by 2025 does not come to pass. That cycle must be broken. The only agency that can do it is the Government through its various bodies. The Government must decide to ensure that the west, south west and south east are important. If we continue with the cycle as it is going, the vast majority of the population will live within 25 miles of the east coast.

There are many areas on which we could touch, but there is an equality issue at the core of recovery. We could go into the definition of "equality" in terms of deprivation indexes, Government figures by agency, etc., but we do not have time today. However, I will touch on one issue. While the Government has made some progress on it, the issue is a much bigger one than it realises. Political will is required to take it on. I refer to the whole issue of personal debt. There is an issue of government debt, which is being dealt with as it is being reduced on foot of an existing fiscal strategy. The private debt issue in the country, however, is spiralling out of control. The banks are being clogged. In my own county, 250 cases relating to family home repossessions are waiting to go before the Circuit Court in July. That is only one county. Protection for the citizen against the banks must be put in place. Senators Mullen and Craughwell proposed a Private Members' motion. The banks seem to have all of the financial wherewithal and expertise and to be bullying home owners, mortgage holders and people who find themselves in other personal debt difficulties. The State must intervene and protect the citizen. The banks cannot be left all of the expertise and protections. An intervention must happen if we are to have a recovery for everyone. The IMF has written a report claiming that the Irish banks are performing well and are back in profit, but they are back in profit because they are riding roughshod over the people who owe them money and were given loans even though the banks should have known beforehand that they were already going down the swanny. The Government needs to protect citizens. Some 300,000 people are in negative equity and 110,000 people are in mortgage arrears. Those families are up against the wall.

It is not an easy issue to address and it would be easy for politicians on our side to blame the Government. The Government is not necessarily to blame, but it will be if it stands by and does nothing about this.