Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

This forum is where we agree things. This party has been saying to the Government for some time now that we want to reach agreement on an economic strategy to move this country forward. Last week I said to the Taoiseach, specifically on the issue of jobs, that if the Government introduces a strategy for protecting and creating jobs it will have the support of the Labour Party. We want an open discussion led by the Government and contributed to by the Opposition to address the economic situation, the jobs crisis and the sense of unfairness and hurt felt by all those staff of the State's services standing on picket lines today and to find solutions to the problems we face. Unfortunately, the Government is not responding.

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