Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

A discussion on unemployment is appropriate, opportune and timely. I compliment my colleague, Deputy Varadkar, on tabling the motion and on the research he conducted in framing it. Once again, unemployment is escalating and the unemployment rate is currently 5.2%. Former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, who was a decent man, said any Government that allowed unemployment to exceed 100,000 should not be in office. Perhaps the Minister of State or Deputy Varadkar will not recall that statement but the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will. The Government is trying to defend a scenario where almost 200,000 people are unemployed and I cannot understand how any Government could defend that position.

Many jobs were created over the past ten years and the Government's amendment refers to 500,000 but a balanced geographic spread has not been achieved in job creation. I refer to my constituency and county where over the past ten years 12,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, which must be a record. Deputy McHugh referred to the task force that was established. It undertook to create 1,000 new jobs annually between 1998 and 2007 but only 1,000 manufacturing jobs were created to replace the jobs lost at Fruit of the Loom, which straddled both constituencies in County Donegal, and the 600 jobs lost at Hospira in Donegal town. In my own area of Gweedore in the Gaeltacht, 1,000 industrial jobs were lost. The latest information suggests the unemployment rate is on the increase again in the county, which is much higher than the national average.

A number of weeks ago, the CSO indicated Donegal has the lowest per capita income on a county basis in Ireland and the highest unemployment. We must all realise the strong correlation between unemployment and per capita income. Why should a tax incentive not be extended to industrialists, entrepreneurs and investors to set up in Donegal similar to the incentives offered to set up in the upper Shannon basin, which covers County Leitrim, the only county in the Republic that borders County Donegal, and the mid-Shannon basis in the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance's constituency? Unless something imaginative such as this is done, the problems we have will not be addressed. County Donegal has a workforce, excellent educational facilities and a good infrastructure. We have everything except the will of the Government and the Department to look after the employment needs of many people in the county.

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