During the Order of Business in the Seanad, I said: I support the call for a debate on job creation. However, it is not the task of the Government to create jobs. Senator Harris referred to a Government stimulus package to encourage job creation. That is what we should be discussing...

The Senator also referred to small and medium-sized businesses. Future Print, a printing factory in Baldoyle, announced yesterday that it was going to close. It was started by a 17 year old in a shed in Finglas 40 years ago and now employs 110 people. We need a stimulus job creation package from the Government. Jobs will not be created by a Government which states it wants to create them. Rather, a stimulus package would allow others to create them.

Although we had a debate on banking only two days ago, it seems unusual to call for another. Senator Boyle mentioned how those of us present at yesterday’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service saw the figures. If we have a debate, we should ban discussing what happened in the past. We should be discussing what is to happen in the future.

Professor Honohan is unsure whether we need a commission of investigation to examine what happened in the past. We should ask him to propose legislation that we could debate, as I am concerned that a talking shop will develop. In some talking shopsh people can go on and on about what happened in the past. Let us talk about what is to happen in the future. In that regard, we should consider the figures we received from Anglo Irish Bank yesterday. It was an interesting debate and re-reading it would be worthwhile. Anglo Irish Bank told us that there were five choices which carried a heavy cost. The bank has come to the conclusion that it would be best to create a good bank and a bad bank. If we were to do this, we would have some chance of getting out. The bank’s delegates have thought the matter through and want to move in that direction. I am unsure whether they are right, but the matter would benefit from a Seanad debate on it.

As a reminder to the House, when one member of the bank’s delegation was asked how much this action would cost, he stated it would be marginal. When pushed, he stated the cost would run to several hundred million euro. The word “marginal” gives us some idea of what we are discussing. 

We should be debating the issue in the House on a regular basis.