Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

They are individuals in very senior management positions in that organisation who have done wrong and others who have done nothing about the fact that they have done wrong. While I did not hear all of Deputy O'Rourke's speech, I heard part of it. The Minister of State will be aware of matters that are not yet in the public domain just as I am aware of such matters. Perhaps before he allows his party colleagues to make fools of themselves he should take them aside and tell them a bit more about what is going on in that organisation and what kind of investigation is now under way. It needs to be dealt with and I hope the Minister of State deals with it. He is one of the brighter and better Ministers and the issue falls into his area. I hope he will deal with it because if he does not, when this party is in government we will do so and we will have no difficulty in pointing the finger at those who did not act when they should have.

The Government has not acted regarding the burden of regulation. We have a verbal commitment to reduce the cost of red tape by 25% and yet have no interim figures as to what will be done this year, next year or the year after. The cutbacks in infrastructural spending will put Ireland further behind. In the past our economy was based on Ireland being a bridge between the United States and Europe. In the future we will need to try to remodel Ireland to be a bridge between Europe and Asia and to try to attract the kind of investment that is now going into places like Austria, for some reason, and not into Ireland. Despite this we have cut back the broadband infrastructure budget by 25%. South Korea has already got broadband speeds that are 33 times faster than ours. We cannot afford to fall further behind in such areas.

The reality is that we cannot borrow, spend or cut our way out of recession. We can only trade our way out in the medium term. By further damaging our competitiveness and infrastructure the Government will make that much harder.

The Government has also increased VAT, which again is a big mistake that will have a serious impact on business in the new year. It is allowing the cost of business to rise in terms of rates, development levies and the cost of utilities. Those costs should all be frozen now. It is increasing capital gains tax which will again make things more difficult. There is the ongoing failure to recapitalise the banks, which needs to be done. We supported the bank guarantee because it was the right thing to do. However, we now need to take the next step and ensure that the banks are recapitalised and that the wheels of credit and the banking system work again. There is no way we can get out of this mess without fixing the banking system. There will be significant job losses in the coming weeks and months if we do not fix it.

Our motion proposes a number of very good ideas. It is unfortunate that they are not going to be accepted. We focused heavily on retraining and, as Deputy English mentioned, particularly identifying this new cohort of people who would not fit into a CE or JI scheme. They are people who have never been unemployed and have been working for two to three years and paying taxes. They now find themselves unemployed for the first time. They could do work if there were an appropriate public works scheme in which they could participate.

There are many things the Government could do to make the environment good for job creation again, which is important. Businesses will not take on new employees if the environment for doing so is not good. The key things that can be done are to freeze the Government charges we mentioned, bring down those utility costs, invest in infrastructure — broadband in particular — cut back the red tape, reverse the VAT hike, address the realities of the pay deal being unaffordable at this stage and also consolidate labour law.

There is a huge body of labour law and it is very complicated. I understand why NERA must exist and its job is to enforce the law. However, some laws are archaic and are costing jobs. I mentioned yesterday some of the issues concerning the requirement for double pay on Sundays and the JLCs in that sector. They are costing jobs already and will cost more jobs. It behoves the Minister of State to act appropriately in that area.

All is not lost. There is hope for Ireland. We can still bring unemployment down. We can still have good public services and we can still balance our budget, but only if the right policies are adopted. However, it does not appear that the Government is prepared to do that. Instead of just prosecuting the Government our motion proposes a series of ideas which it may well end up adopting in due course. It is a shame it will not do it now and will continue to deny there is a problem and will be panicked into action in a few months' time. I commend the motion to the House.

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