Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach should take heed when the Ceann Comhairle says he is over time. It is time for the Taoiseach to go. That is a warning from the Chair.

The difficulties in the sub-prime lending sector in the United States did not cause the problem here with house prices because the Taoiseach, his Minister for Finance and the Government have presided over soaring costs and a range of stealth taxes that have created this leaking of confidence in the economy. The Taoiseach rightly points out that we are the fifth largest exporter in the world, but our broadband rating is 33rd out of 35 countries in the developed world. There are oceans of euros available to be invested in e-commerce companies, but they will not site here because they do not have access to broadband or do not have the speeds when they do set up here.

People's lives do not lie. They can smell the change on the streets, the local chemist shop is going to close down, the price of milk has gone up 20% and post offices and Garda stations have closed down. People see more parking spaces in shopping centres, the cost of living has increased disproportionately and mortgage repayments have increased, causing many social pressures as houses are re-acquired. The Taoiseach has presided over that during a decade of an unprecedented economic opportunity to prepare for the future. While people on the street know what is happening, Governments seem to be completely out of touch. I know the Taoiseach is not responsible for what happens in the United States or Japan, but there are issues he can deal with here over which his Government should have control.

Last week, I asked the Taoiseach whether he was prepared to direct FÁS, as it in his remit to do, to change tack in terms of training and upskilling to areas where there is a shortage, be it in sustainable development, the health or caring sectors, HGV drivers, chefs and the food industry. Will he direct FÁS to shift its resources to training for situations where there is employment and there is still a skills shortage?

On account of the enormous profits made by the construction industry over the past ten years, most construction firms should, and to be fair probably will, ensure that their apprentices will be allowed to complete that apprenticeship. Will the Taoiseach see to it that happens? It would be most unfair to young people who have entered into a chosen career in training or apprenticeship to find that it has been taken away from them because of a decision by the company.

Will the Taoiseach change the priorities in the national development programme to double the number of schools provided? Last Thursday, I saw the unprecedented sight of all the Fianna Fáil chickens gathering round Mama Hanafin's goody bag for the announcement of the schools that was in all the local papers last weekend. That is not how a democracy or a Government should operate in terms of providing jobs and dealing with the people's concerns. It should double the number of schools being built and bring the skills from the construction industry into that sector, rather than have parents fighting, as they are today, in the High Court for their children's right to an education. That is disgraceful.

Although the Taoiseach is presiding over our economy while the fundamentals are still strong, confidence is leaking and the Taoiseach is not addressing that issue. How does he expect to deal with the 30,000 jobs to be lost this year, according to FÁS? The Taoiseach says they will be offset in other employments. Where will they be? Burlington, Allergen, Jacobs and Kingspan account for the loss of 1,500 jobs in a short time. How will the Taoiseach deal with that aspect? Will he give us a weekly update on how he is going to steer the economy through this crisis?

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