Figures published at the weekend showed Irish small and medium-sized enterprises were paying three times the credit rates being charged to German companies. The focus in our discussion of today's budget must be on how we can get the economy back on an even keel, restore it to health and ensure it is competitive. Otherwise, we will endanger our ability to compete and grow in the future.

I received a letter this morning from an individual with whom I was in correspondence last year. This person who lives in Belgium has a son studying in Ireland. He writes:

He [the son] entered a new flat yesterday after learning about the reality of life during one month. He got first into a flat where the day after paying the rental guarantee and first month's rental, he was told, as were all the others, by the owner that for an unforeseen reason, he [the owner] was moving and they had to empty the flat. No document had been signed and the police refused helping, arguing they needed a lawyer. It took some efforts to get the guy to refund the money and the next day, the rooms were back for rent on the Internet. My son then had to go into a youth hostel.

It is unacceptable that somebody can rent out a property, take rental money from students and then, because no lease has been signed, change his or her mind the following day and evict them. I do not know whether new legislation is needed or if such matters are already covered in current legislation. It seems an outrageous abuse of a landlord's position to treat tenants in that way. I hope that by drawing attention to this case, we might be able to do something about it.