Figures last month indicated that consumer sentiment was higher than it had been for seven years and there is a great confidence that what is happening in the economy will lead to success. I am very worried nonetheless about what I have heard on radio, particularly yesterday and at other times, about us having to change direction now. That is mainly coming from the Labour Party, which I can understand. If at this stage we change direction too suddenly in order to make ourselves more citizen-friendly, there is a serious danger that we could throw away all the good work of recent times. I urge that in the next two years we take care to ensure we do not throw away all the good work that has been done. For example, this House has taken an interest through legislation in upward-only rent reviews. The Government could look at this in a customer-friendly manner that would also help citizens while helping to get our shops open again. The issue of upward-only rent reviews was mentioned by the two parties in government and was included in their programme for Government, but they seem to have changed their minds. We have put the legislation through the Seanad, but can we ensure it gets through the Dáil? If the President decides there is a question over whether it should become law, he can send it to the Supreme Court for a decision. At that stage we would know if the legislation would be inside the limits of the Constitution. Tackling the issue will get shops open, and 12 business associations which, to my knowledge, had never come together before are urging the Government to do something about this issue. We have demonstrated what can be done in this House so we should encourage the Government to take it to the next stage and make it law.

When I came in this morning I noted significant amounts of graffiti in different places around Dublin. We are not nearly as bad as other countries, but if we are to encourage tourists to come to the country because it looks so well, we should see what can be done to avoid this graffiti. A while back a local garda saw two young fellows putting graffiti on a wall; a neighbour took the two 14 year olds by the scruff of the neck home to their parents. One parent said that boys would be boys but the other parents got their boy to clean the graffiti with a toothbrush, and it took him a week to clean what he had put on the wall. There are steps we can take to help encourage tourism in the country and we should make graffiti unacceptable.

I am delighted to hear an aware and astute man such as Senator Feargal Quinn acknowledge and remark on how consumer sentiment is getting stronger. Going around to the doors for the elections, many people told me that in the small and medium enterprise sector, as well as retail, there was a bit of a pick-up, although it was nothing extraordinary. This was in the last quarter of last year and following through to this year.

Yesterday I launched an e-learning network in Dundalk Institute of Technology for further education colleges in the north-east region. The message from career guidance personnel in those colleges and the institute in Dundalk was that they were finding it easier to place students in employment. It is necessary to follow our course and stability is very important. People who have worked hard and have been put to the pin of their collar - these people may be in their 40s and have family members in third level education - need a bit of a break from paying the universal social charge or similar measures.

I acknowledge the great achievement of Sinn Féin in different areas. County Louth has not been rolled over by a Sinn Féin tsunami; we had eight Fine Gael councillors and we now have seven, with the councillor who lost being replaced by a fellow from the Fine Gael family. We are still there.

Is this relevant to the Order of Business?

It is completely irrelevant.

In Swords the party has none where it had nine.

It is still in denial.

I congratulate Fianna Fáil on its performance, too. The Senator is certain to get to the Dáil.