Economic crisis - Dáil should be recalled immediately

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan said Rabobank/ACC Bank’s actions in forcing Liam Carroll and John Fleming to seek court protection by resorting to examinerships for their companies with borrowings of more than €1 billion each, has highlighted the need for the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

The Government should therefore recall the Dáil, because it will have to pass the necessary legislation. If the foreign banks are successful in their claims, it could jeopardise our whole Irish banking system.

The country is facing the most serious economic crisis in our history. The seriousness of this crisis was brought home again yesterday with the announcement that Element Six is shedding 370 of its 450 jobs at Shannon, where the company is terminating its manufacturing operations due to a lack of competitiveness in the global market. It will be retaining only 80 jobs in research and development.

The company, which has plants in South Africa, Sweden, Germany and Israel, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial diamonds. The plant, formerly known as De Beers, was one of the great success stories since its establishment at the Shannon Free Airport industrial estate in early 1960s.

Fianna Fáil has never tired of extolling the economic vision of Sean Lemass. This was understandable and justifiable, but the events of yesterday are a grim reminder of how that vision has been shamelessly betrayed. Yesterday’s announcement caught the workforce largely by surprise. It was heartrending to hear young workers being interviewed as they were leaving the plant.

During boom years those people incurred huge mortgages to buy new houses. Now they are likely to be out of work and this will only exacerbate the banking dilemmas as those people run into repayment difficulties through no fault of their own.

One man remarked that he felt it was a case of “Paddy get back on the boat”. A father of five children, he obviously felt that emigration is now the only option, but realistically even that option is no longer available to many people.

The Government seems to be in no hurry to tackle the situation. It is as if everything can wait until next December’s budget. We have known about our serious economic problems for more than a year, but consideration of necessary moves to tackle them were effectively being postponed until An Bord Snip and the Commission of Taxation reported.

An Bord Snip has made a wide range of recommendations. Their implementation will require the consideration and approval of the Dáil, but as soon as the report was issued the Dáil went on holidays. In the coming weeks when the Commission on Taxation is due to report, the Government has already announced that it is going on holidays. The whole thing is like a sick joke.

Politicians have already had more holidays than a vast majority of working people. They are going to have to consider the various issues, sooner or later, so the Dáil should be recalled immediately to deal with the crisis.