mr president rather than being hoisted on the petard of socialism liberalism conservatism or any other of the ideological isms which are bandied about this house on a regular basis i want first of all to congratulate the prime minister on his willingness to come here to present a case to defend it strongly but most importantly of all to offer a bridge between europe and america with regard to how we can solve some of the problems and difficulties that are laid before us particularly because we now stand at a time of a global crisis
but that global crisis should not be allowed to forget the successes of the past
over the last fifteen years we have had unprecedented economic growth unprecedented employment growth unprecedented wealth creation and unprecedented action with regard to helping and assisting the developing world
these new plans that we come forward with should not be about throwing out the baby with the bath water
it should be about building on the successes that were there recognising the failures that had been made and ensuring that we can both chart an ambitious plan forward for a global recovery predicated on common goals of common values with a common course
that common course must at all times be based on the necessity of delivering better things for people not better things for markets or better things for the economy
prime minister you quoted michelangelo in your speech earlier on and there is another good quote from an irish poet oscar wilde when he said we are all lying in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars
and we can reach the stars now this new crisis presents an opportunity
barack obama has rightly seen an opportunity to bring america back onto the world stage
the reality is that compared with the marshall plan after the second world war there is no big beast on the world stage today that can rescue the rest of the world economy
we are interdependent on each other in the challenges that attack us but also in the solutions which we can arrive at
i think that when we most need to chart this new way forward of course we can speak about the carbon-neutral economy the jobs created from that this is very important as well as retraining and reskilling which are vitally important
social protection for those most in need is a necessity for development but let us not be hung up on saying how much money a banker will get is the determining factor of what kind of a solution we come up with
better regulation better supervision but also better enforcement of those regulations because in a lot of cases with regard to the banking crisis it was not about a lack of regulation but rather a lack of supervision and enforcement of the rules
i think one of the key elements that we now have to look for and chart out for the future is instilling not just the certainty with regard to how the markets will operate the kind of shelters that would be got rid of the elimination of tax havens and shadow banking but let us also give some confidence back to people
let us show them that there is a way out of this crisis that there is light at the end of the tunnel but most importantly of all let us show them that they are part of the solution
in the irish language we have a saying called that is people coming together operating together to save the harvest
now is the time for us all to come together not just to save this harvest but to save the planet
