Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

All schemes, irrespective of which Department they come from, deserve to be scrutinised and, if necessary, criticised. I take some of the points made just now and those made by some Sinn Féin Members yesterday evening in respect of this scheme. However, if we are to discuss labour initiatives and work placements, etc., then it would be remiss of us to sweep aside where we are and the fact that the country was destroyed by a handful of spectators, politicians and bankers. They got us where we are, that is to say, thousands of people have left the country and thousands of people are on the dole. In such an environment, irrespective of what jurisdiction a person is in, this changes things.

I do not blow the trumpet for this scheme. However, we should consider the circumstances. The lights of the country are being kept on by money borrowed from our neighbours to pay the wages of public servants etc. including politicians. This is being paid out of money from the British, French and Belgian taxpayers. Sometimes we have debates in the House, parts of which are good and I will go with those parts. However, it makes no sense to discuss these things in a vacuum. A former Taoiseach said in the House one night we were the richest little country in the world. If we were, we are not the richest little country in the world now. There are limitations to this scheme and to how far embargoes can go with local authorities. I do not believe any local authority, including my local authority, South Dublin County Council, can afford to lose any more staff. It is difficult for a local authority to provide a service in such an environment. Naturally, politicians on this side of the House and on the other side of the House look forward to the day when the embargo is gone and when local authorities can once again take on a full placement of people, whether in the environmental department, library services, cleansing or whatever. I look forward to the day we arrive back at that place and the sooner it happens, the better.

Some of the comrades have been at it again. They have used the opportunity not so much to discuss the scheme or what type of alternative scheme they would put in its place. Rather, they used the opportunity to slag off the Labour Party. The Labour Party has been slagged off for a hundred years and it is nothing new. Those of us born into the great tradition of the trade union movement and the Labour Party - the trade union produced the Labour Party in this country - and its proud tradition of a hundred years learn to live with it. In fairness, not all of them have done it. This applies to Sinn Féin Members, some of whose contributions last night were quite balanced. They use every opportunity to slag off the Labour Party and that is okay because we are used to it. The church does it and the political establishment did it for a hundred years. William Martin Murphy did it.

The comrades in Sinn Féin have referred to low wages and workers' rights and so on. They might be better off putting their heads into the trench and pulling them down a little more. The greatest event for the labour movement in this country was the Dublin Lock-out. What happened during the Dublin Lock-out? Sinn Féin did not turn up. On the first day of the Lock-out, 31 August 1913, when Jim Larkin, James Connolly, Helena Moloney, Rosie Hackett, Thomas Foran and so on were leading the workers who had been locked out, where was the leader and founder of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith? He was in his back garden reading ancient Irish poetry. The Sinn Féin Members should reflect on that. I understand that parties reinvent themselves and historical circumstances change.

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