Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

There is much I would like to say but, unfortunately, I only have time to touch on a few issues. I want first to follow on from what my colleague, Deputy Hayes, had to say in respect of utilising the skills of unemployed people, an issue I have spoken on many times in this House since last January during which time Members opposite chose to ignore the problems that were looming.

Many skilled people are now unemployed. The country cannot sustain unemployment levels of 400,000 people. We were told on budget day that unemployment levels might reach 8%. I said on that occasion they could reach as high as 15%, which is where we are rapidly heading. I regret our unemployment levels will reach 15%, which we cannot afford. This is wrong socially, financially and for so many other reasons.

We must use our imagination to match new employment initiatives and skills where jobs need to be done. The housing stock throughout the country needs to be totally refurbished, windows, doors, plumbing and so on. There are schools which need to be made energy efficient and so on. There is plenty of work the State could borrow capital to fund, to match up with the current cost of the dole to get things done with the money rather than have it go down the drain. Also, it is better for people to work, but I have detected no movement from the Government with regard to that area of activity. I hope it will be addressed in the plan next Tuesday because that is a practical area which would facilitate the better use of State money to get us through the current difficulties and leave us in an improved position thereafter.

It is a serious problem when people lose jobs and must face massive debt repayments, mainly mortgages. In some cases the State pays interest to cover some of the mortgage repayments. That is a good system but again, it is under pressure and perhaps will not continue. In other cases people lose a house and avail of rent allowance. Either way, there is a massive cost involved for the State which needs to be addressed. It might be worthwhile for the State to buy up some of those mortgages on a 50-50 basis, say, similar to the shared ownership schemes being administered by local authorities. Perhaps the State could buy a share of the house or do a deal with the banks, either the one it now owns or those it will buy in the future, to put a stay on such mortgages for two or three years to give people a breather. Then we can attempt to tackle the high wage costs and other areas.

We have to tackle the cost of business. Ireland has the highest costs in most categories, for example, energy, property debt, rents, water rates, fuel charges, council charges, contribution levies and so on. These are, in effect, all Government charges. While we cannot get rid of them all we can work on particular areas to try to make a difference and get business competitive.

We also need a job protection plan. I am fed up listening to talk about all those fancy tax incentives for research and development, future job creation and so on. That is lovely and it is needed, but we also need protection plans to keep the jobs we have. That means helping out existing businesses, should that be needed, perhaps with finance. As I have said on numerous occasions over the last six months, they might be given the services of professional people who are trained in finance, legal matters, debt collecting and so on, to help them reorganise so that they can come up with better business plans and therefore get credit from the banks. Let us help business. It needs help. It is not the big initiatives that will matter so much as the little ones.

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