Motion on Economic Issues - 28th January 2009

Motion on Economic Issues - 28th January 2009
Senator David Norris: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, with which he is not entirely unfamiliar, as his elevation is comparatively recent. He is also somebody who has considerable distinguished expertise from within the bureaucratic branch of government. I have no doubt that his view on this matter will be of interest to all Members of the House.
While I have mixed feelings about the motion, I will probably vote with Fine Gael Members, although my inclination is to remain neutral. The first number of sections are unarguable, as they are matters of fact. I refer to the increase in unemployment and the fact that this is among the first countries in Europe to enter officially into the category of recessionary economy. The blame game is also applied, which in a way is unfortunate because the situation is so critical that we have to pull together.
The Minister of State is a churchgoer; he is a member of the same Anglican denomination as I am. Perhaps he was in church on Sunday and heard the lesson from the Old Testament to which I referred on the Order of Business - Jonah, chapter three - in which Jonah was instructed by God to go to the citizens of Nineveh, not just to rebuke them but to tell them that their city would be flattened and raised to the ground because of their luxurious way of life, greed, selfishness and neglect of spiritual and ethical values. They were so terrified by the imminent catastrophe that they instantly - all of them, high and low, rich and poor, aristocrat and commoner - put on their sackcloth and ashes and made obeisance and acknowledged their fault. As a result, God withdrew the interdiction against them. There is a lesson for us. We have to put the country on a war footing. I am horrified when I hear people say, “We are not going to give up our wage increase.” For God’s sake, it is an obscenity when people are losing their jobs all over the country that anybody should start to say, “I am not giving up my wage increase.” We should be thinking in terms of cuts, particularly those of us who, like myself and many of my colleagues in the House, are fortunate. I have paid my mortgage, which is partly a function of my age because I am nearly 65 years, and have very little in the way of debt. I even have a couple of thousand euro in prize bonds. We should be helping others out.

Deputy Martin Mansergh: The best of luck.

Senator David Norris: I win once every three weeks on average but it is always the same amount, €75, which is not worth a damn. It is just a provocation and a tease. I would prefer to get nothing until I win the big one. The serious point I am making is that we must all pull together and that those of us who are in a better position must not be looking to see what others have got; we must all try to get something done.
I wish to read some heartbreaking letters which I received today and to which I replied immediately. One is from a decent young man living in a provincial town who writes:

I am one of the many people who after being involved in construction is in dire financial straits. However, I am not a big developer. The company I had has ceased trading and I have gone back since to work as a PAYE worker although I do not know how long I will be able to hold onto my job. The situation I am in has left me paralysed with anxiety, not knowing if I will ever get out of the mess I am in. MABS is a big help. [Thank God for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service but it is very limited in what it can do.] Unfortunately, I did not conduct all my business through my limited company and, thus, am liable for personal debt as well. I have had to get the help of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on two occasions but when you have young kids, you have to do what you have to do. I am owed money and, in turn, I owe money. Hard work always got me places and I worked for other people. I felt if I worked hard enough for myself everything would come right but sometimes work is not enough.
His letter continues to state he is starting a law course and has already passed four of its elements. It takes some of the strain and anxiety off him but he does not know where to turn. He is a young man with a young family who has worked hard. These are the kind of people we cannot, for shame, abandon. Those of us who have something must be prepared to make sacrifices. I will support the Government if it proposes 10%, 15% or 20% cuts in our wages and for everyone else in the country. We must give decent hard-working people the opportunity to get back to work.
A young builder I know, one of the finest men I have ever encountered, with a lovely young family put all his money into Bank of Ireland shares. Everything he worked for is now all gone. How disillusioning is such a removal of incentive? This is what we must address and not for any mean-minded party advantage, although I do not accuse Fine Gael of that.
Will Senator John Paul Phelan explain the clause in the motion which calls for the Government to exempt employers from paying PRSI on any additional staff that they take on in 2009? I would not like to disadvantage workers. If this clause removes their entitlements or diminishes them in any way, I will be against the motion.

Senator John Paul Phelan: It does not.

Senator David Norris: In that case I will be voting for the motion. We cannot take on yellow pack workers at whatever level we reach.
I agree with overhauling FÁS. Yes, it always did wonderful work. It got mired in scandal and people jumped on the bandwagon looking for heads. I must add that they cost the Exchequer a hell of a lot of money in doing so. From €500,000 to €50,000 a year was not much of a saving. FÁS has done wonderful work but it needs to be overhauled. Today, I received correspondence from an individual telling me how helpful FÁS was to them in the back to education allowance. This scheme, along with ones such as the research and design one, are excellent.
Why can we not introduce for one year a quarantine period from rules and regulations for start-up companies? The quagmire of red tape already in place stops innovative people from setting up businesses. I heard an individual the other day on the wireless explaining how it only takes seven hours to set up a company in some South American countries. It takes a hell of a lot longer in Ireland. I understand the difficulties because of the phoenix syndrome that have to be addressed. However, we must give initiative a kick-start. Let us relax regulations to get innovative people into setting up businesses. Lateral thinking is needed.
Every Adjournment debate in the Seanad is taken up with unbuilt schools throughout the country and students in portakabins. It is not just this side of the House that raises these matters but the Government side too. Recently, a person on the wireless pointed out we are paying more on the rent of the portakabins than we would pay on mortgages to build the schools. Give the schools the mortgages and get the builders back to work. Cut their wages but get the people working. We need to get the metro and the interconnector built. In The Irish Times today the Dublin city manager said this is a moment in which our courage must not falter. We must invest.
I will support the Government in any action it takes on the economy that is decent. I am not going to rake up all the stuff about the past. There was squandering and so forth but we must face into the future on behalf of those young people I referred to earlier. My heart bleeds for the first, a builder whom I know personally and a finer man I have never met in my life, to think of him losing all his savings. The other fellow I referred to, who has two young children, does not know what to do. He was earning money and was at the top of his youth and profession, yet he had to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He did it all the same, for his children’s welfare, and that took balls. These are the children of our nation about which they were bleating in the Mansion House last week. We must get something done for these people.

Senator John Paul Phelan: That was a stirring contribution.