Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The success of the Irish labour market over the past decade has been unparalleled in the recent history of Europe. At the same time unemployment has more than halved to just over 4% and long-term unemployment has fallen to less than 1.5%. Our employment performance has been particularly impressive since 2003, with labour-intensive sectors to the fore of the economic upturn.

The last quarterly national household survey on the labour market showed that while the pace of employment growth moderated, it is still firmly positive. The number of persons in employment grew by almost 68,000 or 3.3% in the year to the third quarter of 2007. This does not reflect the picture of a rapidly declining economy painted by Fine Gael today or at any time in recent years.

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