Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I wish to express my frustration that I will have less than five minutes to speak on this motion. It is truly extraordinary that we will not get an opportunity to debate in depth the concerns every household in the country is discussing at present. Many colleagues in Fine Gael and in the Labour Party wished to make a proper, lengthy contribution to a detailed debate on the challenges we currently face, but we have not been given that opportunity.

This House went into recess for nearly three months. In that period, 23,000 people lost their jobs in Ireland. That is a total of 300 per day. People are worried about their future, their jobs and their financial commitments such as mortgages and loans. They expect leadership from the Government. They expect the people they elect to run the country to give leadership when it is needed. What did they get in response? This is the first sitting of the Dáil for three months, following a meltdown in international money markets and a series of uncertainties that affect the economy and people's pensions and jobs. The Government's response is a refusal to even facilitate a two-day debate on the issue. This was requested last week; it is not as if the Government was taken by surprise by the request.

Instead, the Government is content to discuss the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, which is irrelevant in the context of the challenges the country faces at present. A discussion on boundary changes for three and a half year hence is what it considers a priority for discussion in the Dáil this week. Is it any wonder that people view this House and many of its Members as irrelevant to their lives and the challenges they face? If Fine Gael had not forced a debate on the economy during Private Members' business this evening, there would have been no opportunity to discuss the issue, apart from during Leaders' Questions. We are accused of playing political games for trying to hold an arrogant and lazy Government to account, a Government that does not have the political courage to face a proper debate on the economy.

To put recent job losses in context, in the last month in Cork 180 people lost their jobs in Pfizer, 280 jobs were lost in Howley Civil Engineering in Carrigtwohill and yesterday there were 150 job losses in Swiss Co. in Little Island. Today we have been told there will probably be an announcement tomorrow of 200 job losses in Tyco Sensormatic on the Model Farm Road. People are talking about that, not the boundaries of Dáil constituencies in the next general election. We should be reflecting people's concerns. They want answers from us about what direction the country is taking and what challenges and hardships they can expect. People know that is the reality they face for the next year or 18 months, or whatever the time frame will be. Eleven of the top 88 worst unemployment blackspots are in Cork. Last week a dole queue in Cork city stretched for almost half a mile, and crossed one of the bridges in the city. This picture was on the front page of the Evening Echo in Cork last week, a sight many people of my age have never seen. People are worried about this and want a response from people like the Minister who they see as offering new leadership in Ireland.

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