Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

The Labour Party is tabling this motion to extend the Dáil sitting at a time of great uncertainty and uncharted waters for the Irish people. It is not just to do with the result of the Lisbon treaty referendum, although many people voted against the treaty because they were unsure about the future and were worried.

It is a time of great uncertainty in the economy. I am not trying to add to any gloom and doom, but people out there are frightened. Older people who have previously dealt with difficult economic times remember what it was like to have to emigrate and to have high levels of unemployment. Younger people who have never experienced it are also worried because they do not know what the future holds. They do not know if they will be able to pay their mortgages next week or the following week, or if they will be given notice in their employment. In many cases, they are in uncertain jobs without permanency and they do not have any future guarantees.

At this time we need to give leadership in this Parliament. We need to show these people that we are concerned and that we want to do something about the situation. The last thing we need to do is go off on our summer holidays with so many issues not dealt with, with so much uncertainty and so many things that need to be done. I listened to positive proposals from the previous few speakers on the Government side of the House. However, these actions need to be taken with the leadership of Parliament and that is why we propose that we stay in session to address them.

I am particularly concerned about the construction industry. Having spoken to people who are working in that industry and who are very worried about the future, I do not get a sense that they are being engaged with on their future and that the One Step Up programme referred to by the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher, for example, is touching their lives. For example, I get no sense that there is an engagement by the local employment service, the local unemployed centres, local FÁS staff or local staff of the Department of Social and Family Affairs with people who are losing their jobs.

The Labour Party proposes, for example, that the school building programme, the hospital programme and the projects referred to by my colleague, Deputy Costello, and others, such as Kilfinnan national school just outside my constituency which has outdoor toilets and Gaelscoil Sáirséal which is in a condemned building and has been waiting for years for a construction programme, should be given the go-ahead and that we should direct our construction workers into positive activity that will deal with the needs there. The last thing we need to be doing is cutting back on the national development programme. We need to invest now in our schools and hospitals and other positive construction programmes.

There is a real fear of poverty. People are finding it difficult to balance their budgets. In a recent survey 37% of people stated they where struggling to pay utility and household bills.

In my constituency we have positive proposals for regeneration of the city but we have not been able to get the Taoiseach to commit to the capital funding required for those projects over the coming years. We need that commitment and that engagement. We need the Dáil to sit to address these issues.

In the area of health there are urgent problems. We sat in committee this morning with the Minister and Professor Drumm for approximately four hours and a variety of issues and concerns were raised.

The fair deal legislation is one of the three Bills from the Department of Health and Children that is listed for publication in this session. Not one of those three Bills has even been published, not to mind dealt with here in this Assembly. I urge that we sit until the end of July even if it is only to deal with the fair deal legislation. There are serious issues in that legislation which need to be addressed but we could deal with them in this Chamber in a democratic way and address the problems families have in meeting the costs of nursing homes which, in some cases, have gone up because of the promise that the fair deal legislation would be published at the end of last year and implemented in January. I urge that some of the €110 million allocated is provided to alleviate the hardship faced by families trying to pay for their loved ones in nursing homes. I welcome the fact talks are ongoing. However, this is the kind of issue which needs to be addressed in this Chamber.

We could do very useful work on practical issues which are of concern to people. I pointed to three Bills in my area of health but I am sure my colleagues could point to legislation in their areas. We must show the people that we, as their national representatives, are aware of the real concerns and worries they are experiencing.

There is almost stagnation in many areas of the economy. We must provide positive responses which we are hearing in this Chamber. However, we will not be able to do anything about them if we are gone from this Chamber early in July and if we do not return until October.

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