John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Quite bluntly, my problem is that we have listened to many recommendations from Europe through the years. In his introduction, the Minister of State referred to how we had seen the consequences of bad policy mistakes at home and abroad. I would amend that, as we are still seeing the ramifications of bad policy on Ireland and further afield.

This is a question of sustainable jobs across Europe. Consider the high rate of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. The Minister of State's document refers to social inclusion and inducing spending in the economy, which is of paramount importance to the country's survival economically. If we cannot induce spending other than what we see from external investment, we will face a major difficulty. The issues of social inclusion, a reasonable quality of life, unemployment, child poverty, our high literacy and numeracy rates and so on are interlinked in the creation of sustainable jobs. If we cannot create those, this report's recommendations will mean nothing. We discuss bringing unemployment figures down, but that is substantially done through the creation of schemes that focus on taking people out of the social welfare system for an extra €20. They are paid a rate that almost impoverishes their families. I supplied examples in the Dáil. One chap was on a scheme under which he got an extra €20, €15 of which was taxed. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, could not comment, as she did not know why that would be the case.

This is a problem across Europe. There have been many recommendations through the years, but that is exactly what they end up being. I see nothing concrete or evidential in terms of how we will implement them. For instance, from where will these sustainable, long-term jobs come? Jobs are everything in any economy. It is not possible to keep 220,000 people - this number depends on the figures one uses, as it could be anything between 170,000 to 250,000 - in long-term unemployment. Not only would it draw billions of euro every year from the social welfare budget, but also from the health budget, dampening the economy and curtailing growth therein.

In the past six months in particular, people have had a problem with Europe. They expressed it in how they voted. We get nothing concrete from Europe. For example, I can make recommendations on how something should be done.

What we need are concrete proposals for the creation of sustainable jobs in Ireland and to address all of the issues covered in this report, including social inclusion, child poverty, unemployment and the provision of a reasonable quality of life for people. That is a reasonable request. There is nothing in this report to support the claim that within two years we will have induced spending in the economy and reduced our rate of inflation, because we will have provided people with quality jobs which, in turn, enabled them to spend money and assist in rebuilding the economy. This is where Europe falls down consistently. It simply produces tonnes of recommendations to which there is no substance.

I am not being critical of the Minister of State. Where in this report is the evidence that in two or three years something substantial will happen in the Irish economy that will help growth and reduce our illiteracy rate and child poverty level, which is extremely high? We need to be able to point to somewhere in this report which supports the claim that within a two or three year period Ireland will have dealt with its high level of unemployment.