Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly agree with Senators Michael McDowell and Catherine Ardagh who spoke about the mortgage crisis and the sale of loans. We will hear all of the technical debate on Basel II, the impairment of our balance sheets and the ratio of loans to assets in the banks. As it has come down the road from the European Union, we cannot be oblivious to it. We were quick to deliver NAMA to large enterprises, banks, large developers and everyone else it suited at the time. Why can the common person not have a NAMA? It is the common-sense way forward. Certainly, the banks have to look after the balance sheets, but they could be dealt with through a special vehicle to deal with all impaired loans. That is all. I simply wanted to comment on that matter.

The national development plan was unveiled last week with great fanfare, press and photo shoots, but I missed the exact details. All I heard was about Ardee and Drogheda from Senator Gerald Nash, but I missed that part of it. The amount of infrastructure to be built and planned is immense, as is the related detail.I have one query for the Leader. There are 60 blocklayers and 27 plasterers in apprenticeship schemes. Who will build everything? Unless the infrastructure is virtual, how will it be built? It is not possible. We previously discussed apprenticeship schemes. They were supposed to be ramped up, but that has not happened. The issue has been talked about for the past two years. We will have to tackle the issue head-on or it will not progress.

We met representatives from the AILG today. The Leader has worked hard on this issue. Nearly 60% of councillors are now worse off than they were before the new deal on pay and conditions was implemented. It is hard to fathom. They are the figures supplied by the AILG. I know the Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, has done a lot of work on this and intends to do a lot more. The sooner we can make progress with this the better for everyone.