Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank Deputy Penrose for tabling this important motion on unemployment and I am pleased to have the opportunity of addressing it.

The financial crisis at home and abroad dominates the headlines, while the economic recession worsens. The Government put €400 billion of taxpayer's money, or twice our annual GDP, on the line to bail out the banks and in so doing was applauded by the professional commentators for its brilliant and daring approach. However, bank shares continue to spiral downwards and the credit crunch continues unabated because the banks have over extended with the construction industry, which is on the rocks, to the point where they have no national or international creditworthiness.

Greed, big executive bonuses and dividends and a sleeping regulatory watchdog have done the banking system. The Government should shut down the expensive €50 million plus quango that is the Office of the Financial Regulator, follow the example of the United Kingdom by taking advantage of the repressed financial market to take equity in the banks it is bailing out and establish an independent regulatory watchdog which would report directly to it to ensure proper financial regulation. The prospect of a State third banking force, which the Labour Party advocated in the early 1990s, now seems a good idea. It is hard to understand why the Government allowed the State-owned ACC Bank to be privatised in the 1990s and sold to Rabo Bank which is now an endangered species.

These, however, are mere matters of money. The real crisis and tragedy involves the 80,000 men and women who have lost their jobs in the past 12 months and the 300 who lose their jobs daily. Job losses will continue to hit for a considerable period to come. The ESRI predicts that another 100,000 will lose their jobs in 2009. That is an appalling vista. The Government was quick to respond to the financial turmoil with a bail-out last week and a budget next week but it has no employment policies or support strategies for the redundant workers who are the immediate victims of the recession.

Threshold, the organisation for the homeless, told us yesterday that the number of illegal evictions trebled in the past 12 months because tenants who became unemployed could not make the rental payments to their landlords. It called for the establishment of a short-term emergency fund to tide tenants over through the rainy days ahead and save the State money in the longer term. On Monday, the first day of the new law term, applications for the repossession of homes and properties were the talking point of the courts. The number seeking State support in meeting mortgage repayments has risen by 60% in the past 12 months and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service has experienced a 50% increase in the number of vulnerable people accessing its services. This is the human tragedy that occurs when the unbridled market has its way and the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank go to sleep on the job.

It is not the MABS or the Department of Social and Family Affairs which should be called upon to assist with loan repayments but the credit institutions which were prepared to break every rule in the book by granting excessive mortgages in the first place and turning home ownership into property portfolios. The Government should compel them to restructure these mortgages over whatever period of time is necessary and tailor them to suit the current economic circumstances of the mortgage holder. Under no circumstances should any bank or building society be allowed to foreclose on a family home. The Government should give that guarantee to families. No longer should the financial institutions be, as Walt Whitman wrote, willing to loan an umbrella on a sunny day and take it back when the rain starts to fall.

Men and women who are losing their jobs must not be consigned to long-term unemployment, as happened in previous decades. The Government must provide opportunities for them to engage in meaningful activities. They must be offered the opportunity to return to education immediately through a revamped voluntary training opportunities scheme and back to education allowances. They must also be offered opportunities to retrain and reskill immediately. They need access to community employment schemes, jobs initiative schemes and local employment services. The workers who produced the Celtic tiger should not become the first victims of the recession. While efforts are being made to rebuild the economy, those who have lost their place in the workforce through no fault of their own must not be left on the scrap heap. They must be facilitated in every way to return to the workforce at the earliest possible moment. That should be the Government's immediate priority.

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