Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree that the situation outlined by the Taoiseach in his speech of 400,000 people being unemployed later this year is a doomsday scenario for those 400,000 people and their families? I asked the Minister whether he has any proposals to incentivise businesses and individuals to get back to work and in particular whether the Minister has any proposals on job retention? Does the Minister agree with the Taoiseach's figures that every additional 100,000 people on the live register will cost approximately €2 billion? Is the Minister aware that in a more recent statement IBEC suggested that the figures could climb above 400,000 towards 500,000? In the event of these figures being reached do we require emergency measures to retain jobs such as job-sharing? Where people have lost jobs, does the Minister have full confidence in FÁS as the lead agency to get people back to work, to education and to training in view of the difficulties that have emerged in recent times in this agency?

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