Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Getting value for it is another matter. I accept that we have a vibrant economy to which many in our society have contributed, not least the Minister. I would like him to focus, however, on the extra 8,000 people who are unemployed since this time last year. Do we know who they are? Do they feel displaced by the vibrancy of the labour market and the economy? Do they feel they have a chance to get back into the workforce with the requisite skills to compete against a cohort of European citizens who have the same right to come to this country as we had in our darker days to go elsewhere? If we do not reach out and address them, and if the Minister does not use the resources under his Department's remit to do so, we will lay the foundations for the kind of right wing racist backlash that has occurred in every other medium sized European country whose economy has slowed down, as it is in the nature of a cyclical market economy to do.

What mechanism does FÁS have to track and identify the extra 8,000 people who have become unemployed and ask them what they need in order to get back into work? The macroeconomic performance of this economy is good but there is a danger inherent in the fallout. What steps is the Minister taking to identify the extra 8,000, bringing the total unemployed to 164,000, who have fallen out of this economy, notwithstanding its growth, and bring them back onto the pitch?

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