Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

If we continue to lose jobs at the current rate, the Government will not be able to keep up in terms of cutting public expenditure. The social welfare cost alone of the people who lost their jobs last year is the €1.4 billion that must be paid in the pension levy. Every additional job lost will cost €20,000.

The Taoiseach spoke about the need to get some kind of consensual approach to dealing with the problems of the economy. The Labour Party is more than willing to engage with the Government, come forward with ideas and address solutions aimed at getting people back to work and saving jobs. That is the real solution. The figure that the country and Government must now consider is not public expenditure but employment. Getting people back to work is the solution and saving jobs is part of the way to dealing with the problem.

I suggest the Taoiseach address the events in Waterford Crystal. There are 450 workers there and if they lose their jobs, that will be an additional €9 million per year lost to the Exchequer. Will the Government address the jobs issue with the seriousness now required? Deputy Kenny raised the school building programme that has been suggested by the Labour Party for some time and there are other ideas. We can expand on and develop these ideas over time. Will the Taoiseach and his Government prioritise the saving of jobs and getting people back to work? Will he give that the central attention required rather than fixating on public finances and expenditure, which has been the case up to now?

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