Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

It is not just I who say this. The ESRI has said that the Government blew the finances from a boom everybody knew would be temporary. It is now in a position where it has gone from boom to bust in a short period and has turned a substantial surplus into a €7 billion or €8 billion deficit.

The Taoiseach is in denial and a delusion has been perpetrated on the electorate that all is well and rosy with the economy. However, the people on the street are not deluded. They can see frontline services being cut back, see and feel cost of living increases and feel economic pressures from a whole range of areas. The 580 blue chip jobs which were announced yesterday as being lost to India are the very kind of jobs that we heard Minister after Minister blowing trumpets about and rightly putting abroad as being the mainstay of our economy. However, it was left to the hapless Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Tánaiste, to respond to this loss. She said she offered her regrets to the 580 people whose jobs are being transferred to India.

Will regret put anything on the tables of those 580 people? Is regret all the Government has to offer when 580 blue chip jobs are transferred to India? Is regret all it can offer when many of those families are mortgaged to the hilt? In view of the fact that we are getting devastating news following devastating news, will the Taoiseach admit that there is only delusion coming from Government in respect of the real economic situation? What else has the Government to offer our hundreds of thousands of workers in these uncertain times and circumstances other than regret?

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