Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Labour Party motion. As with many of last night's speakers, my constituency of Laois-Offaly has experienced severe job losses in the past year. I will deal briefly with the constituency figures. In Offaly, the number has risen by over 1,500 and in Laois the number has risen by just under 2,000 in the last year. Breaking these figures into their respective areas, they are particularly stark. The lowest loss is in the Rathdowney area, with 211, Birr has 311 and Edenderry has 390. Getting to the bigger towns the loss is substantial. For example, the figure for Portarlington is 763, Tullamore is 831 and Portlaoise is 980.

The most worrying part of this is that in both Laois and Offaly, 27% of those who lost their jobs in the past year are under 25. That figure speaks for itself. We have greater reason to worry in that we have had two significant announcements of job cuts this year in Boston Scientific and Rationel Vinduer. This will be well over 300 jobs that have not joined those figures yet, as those companies are to close in the coming months. That is the scale of the problem in my area, although others have spoken of other areas.

Having read the speech by the Minister and Tánaiste, Deputy Mary Coughlan, last night, I am unconvinced there is a recognition of the scale of the problem we face. The constant harping back to the line that this is part of something happening in the rest of the world is incorrect and shows the Government is failing to get to grips with the problem. The fall in growth in this country far outstrips the fall in the rest of the euro area and our rise in unemployment runs contrary to the overall euro area experience.

We hear the Minister say we have an employment market well placed to meet and tackle the current economic challenges but the figures do not bear that out. That is my concern.

I will deal specifically with the adequacy of the State response. I questioned the Minister and Tánaiste, as well as FÁS, about the loss of apprenticeships this year. I raised the matter at the beginning of the summer and again through parliamentary questions and in committee, when Deputy Varadkar was present. The steps being taken give no hope for the thousands of apprentices who have lost their apprenticeships in the past few months.

To be told last week that FÁS has opened discussions with relevant bodies and authorities does not inspire confidence that this idea is getting the urgency it deserves. These are young people left with no qualification and no real opportunity of work without qualification. They have no real opportunity to complete their apprenticeship in order to qualify in the current climate. This calls for a little bit of imagination. We should look to our institutes of technology and all our third level institutions so we can see what opportunity exists for these apprentices to qualify through the system. It demands thinking outside the box that the Government is so fond of staying in. We must act to give these young people any chance.

I am glad the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, is here. The back to education allowance must be addressed by the Government, as it has again ignored the reality. Every Deputy in this House has had a queue of people coming to him or her who are caught because they have not been unemployed for a year. Everybody believes there must be rules for schemes but there is a lack of flexibility in this scheme, particularly in the current climate. These people are still being paid jobseeker's allowance but it would be far more cost-effective to pay them to go to third level and get a qualification.

This should be considered for people on the minimum wage as well. A person on jobseeker's allowance may be getting rent supplement, a medical card and so on, and such people come out with a euro per week more than somebody on the minimum wage. The operation of the back to education allowance is an example of bureaucracy gone mad. While there will be cuts in next week's budget, I hope common sense will prevail and schemes will be made much more cost effective.

While it is easy in the current climate to focus on large multinational employers, we must also emphasise the role of small and medium size employers, for example, a local clothes or shoe shop which employs three or four people. This sector is being hit hard in current economic conditions and its position is likely to worsen after Christmas.

Following next week's budget, local authorities will commence their estimates process. I am concerned that hikes in rates will result in the closure of companies which would otherwise manage, perhaps only barely, to stay in business. This issue must be addressed next week. It will be pointless to blame county councillors if small and medium size businesses are effectively forced to close in a few months because local councils decide to increase rates as a result of an inadequate allocation by central Government.

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