Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I want to put on the record my gratitude to Deputy Bertie Ahern for his excellent work as Taoiseach since I entered Dáil Éireann and as leader of the Fianna Fáil Party. The people were asked to pass judgment on him in three general elections and each time they gave him a positive result. I am sure that when historians come to write the book, they will make an equally positive assessment of his career.

I am happy to support the Government position on this motion. This is a bit of an unreal motion and I understand the Opposition had to scrape the barrel to find some subject to raise. Ten years ago when I first joined the Dáil there were 1 million people in the workforce. Today there are 2.1 million people in it. It has more than doubled in the past ten years. Therefore, the economic perspective of people who put forward a motion such as this suggesting unemployment is a serious issue is very short term, probably about 30 seconds. If they looked at the situation in the normal short, medium or long term, they would realise the motion has no standing.

The Government takes a longer view of these issues and of the economic cycles here, abroad and internationally. The Government is in power because it is in the position to take the necessary major long-term decisions. There will always be ups and downs. That is life. We need a strong infrastructure to cope with the ups and downs and that is why the Government's emphasis on the national development plan is so important. The plan will help not just the construction industry, but also improve our competitiveness. One only has to look at the roads, Dublin to Cork, Dublin to Limerick, Dublin to Waterford, Dublin to Belfast or wherever.

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