Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes with alarm:

the catastrophic increase in unemployment levels that have seen 200,000 people added to the live register since the general election in May 2007, and the acknowledgement by the Taoiseach that the numbers are likely to exceed 450,000 this year;

that the cost to the Exchequer of these additional numbers has been €4 billion in terms of extra social welfare payments and income tax foregone, before the cost of secondary benefits or the loss of spending power are factored in;

the devastation being caused to individual families, local communities and the potential social damage of the return of mass unemployment; and

the failure of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to ensure that facilities are in place to cope with the huge additional numbers who have now to sign-on and claim the benefits to which they are entitled with dignity;

deplores the failure of the Government to treat the unemployment situation with the seriousness it deserves and the lack of action to create new jobs and protect existing employment; and

calls on the Government to produce a national jobs plan designed, in particular, to stem current job losses and to provide educational and retraining opportunities for those who have lost their jobs, which should include:

an earn and learn scheme which would allow people to combine short time working with education or training;

a reduction in the lead-in time for eligibility for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance and the Back to Education Allowance;

an improvement in access to Community Employment and Jobs Initiative Schemes;

measures to ensure that every school leaver who finishes school next summer has the option of work experience, training or further education;

the provision of better opportunities for career breaks and flexible work options, underpinned by legislation;

a substantial programme of investment in skills, further education and retraining, including a greater role for the Institutes of Technology in this area and an increase in the number of places available under the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (currently capped at 5,000) and the use of vacant places in universities and colleges;

the lifting of the "cap" on the enrolments to courses in colleges of further education; and

the provision of adequate facilities at social welfare and community welfare offices and the proper scheduling of appointments so that people are treated with dignity and that the practice of having to queue outdoors for long periods is ended.

With the permission of the House, I would like to share time with Deputies Penrose, Costello and Morgan.

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