Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Does the Minister envisage that the package proposed by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, EPSCO, will include budget checks for child poverty? While there has been much talk about child poverty, unless vulnerable children are protected against budget cuts, it is meaningless.

All the points have been made about the number of young people unemployed and long-term unemployment. The long-term unemployment rate is increasing to a dangerously high level. These proposed initiatives will not deal with the issue at all. There needs to be significant investment in job creation across Europe, particularly in Ireland. Private investment is on strike, as the Minister knows, even though the money is there. The Government is not able to or willing to put in the real investment needed for creating jobs. How much money from Europe does the Minister envisage will be needed to implement these proposed initiatives?

There is also a concern about the types of jobs that will be created by these schemes. Only several weeks ago, the M. J. Gleeson Group in Cherry Orchard, under the auspices of redundancy, let 12 permanent workers go. They had all just joined a trade union and were replaced very quickly with agency workers. We have to ensure these schemes go along with the protection of trade union rights, the right to join a union and the right not to be made redundant for doing so. Are we moving towards more agency work rather than permanent work under these schemes? There are other areas that have to be looked at. What are the Minister's ideas on the amount of money needed to get people off the dole?