Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

Following last week's Government intervention on behalf of the banks, it is time to ask whether the Government will now show the same determination to bail out the Irish families who are about to lose their homes. The need for this intervention was highlighted last night. I re-emphasise the need for this intervention to save victims of the banks' greed, now that unemployment has hit these families.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment spoke last night about the value of community employment schemes. While these were valuable schemes, they were short term and the plan was that people would return to full employment. Even in the best of times, that did not happen. Now, there is even less opportunity for many of these people to return to full employment. I raise this matter in the context of information provided to me by one of my constituents. She is a separated mother of four who was given a mortgage of €150,000 while she was on a CE scheme. What was that mortgage provider thinking of? He is now waiting, vulture-like, at the door of the court to repossess her house. The ones who suffer most are those who were force-fed mortgages by banks and mortgage providers in the good times. Where was the Financial Regulator when this woman was gifted a mortgage that she could not possibly repay?

I draw Members' attention to the plight of the hidden victims of the downturn. When a factory closes and a large number of jobs are lost, the event rightly gets banner headlines, but when two or three are lost in the local shop or launderette, we do not hear about it because it never reaches the newspapers. The people affected are also unemployed and still have to pay their mortgages, put bread on the table and look after their children. The sense of isolation can be overwhelming for them because they do not even have the support of their colleagues when jobs are lost here or there.

Yesterday a school principal in my constituency highlighted for me the number of parents who were asking to have payments deferred for basic school items. The parents concerned cannot afford to pay because they have lost their jobs. I estimate that an additional 1,100 people have become unemployed in Dublin South-Central since September in comparison with the same period in 2007. The MABS reports being inundated with calls. As I am not aware of any factory closures which would account for such a large number of job losses, I believe they are being eroded here and there. However, the victims suffer in the same way as those laid off with 200 others and are equally entitled to be looked after. The services have to reach out to them because they cannot rely on having somebody to support their cause. They need to be helped in restoring their dignity and finding fresh full-time employment.

The need for upskilling and retraining on foot of job losses in the construction has been highlighted by my colleagues. Two proposals made in the Labour Party motion regarding the construction industry and the schools programme are worth rehearsing. A number of schools in my constituency have been waiting seven years or more for extensions. Inchicore primary school, Loreto primary school, Crumlin, the sports hall in Loreto College, Crumlin, and Our Lady's secondary school, Templeogue, are all waiting to commence their building projects. This gap could be effectively filled by reintroducing a schools building programme.

The insulation programme which my party has proposed could also offer value. In the Dublin area Energy Action provides a high quality service. Similar services are offered throughout the country. It is time they were mainstreamed because they are dependent on funding from a variety of agencies.

Since 1997 Fianna Fáil led Governments were happy to take credit for the Celtic tiger and its effects on the economy and employment. It could be argued that the Government's bail-out of the banks was merely a case of returning the favour to the builders and their bankers. It is time the Government acted in support of the Labour Party's proposals to get people back to work, prevent long-term unemployment, stimulate the economy and provide significant social and environmental gains.

See this speech in context