Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Labour Party for sharing time with me. I and my party support this motion in the name of Deputy Róisín Shortall. The news last week that more than 350,000 people are now unemployed, and the prospect of up to 600,000 people on the dole by the end of the year, is simply frightening. We are looking at an economic catastrophe and if the Government does not change its direction and focus on job creation, future generations of Irish workers, and indeed the Irish people, will pay a terrible price.

The announcement of closures from Dell in Limerick to SR Technics in Dublin is like a horror story. Every day more and more workers are being told they will no longer have a job. Behind all these figures lie real human stories. Thousands of families are coping with unemployment, which is very demoralising, leaves them in difficult financial circumstances and causes much strain on family relations. As our mortgages and rents are among the highest in Europe, families in Ireland are paying a far more terrible price than any of our European neighbours.

The Government built its reputation on job creation. Despite the clear problems in our services, Ministers from the Cabinet said that, if nothing else, the Government had created jobs. They patted themselves on the back. However, we have now seen that our economic policy of short-term jobs for short-term gain is a complete failure. Real job creation can only be achieved when it is based on sustainable policies. The Government did not listen to us when we warned that our economy was disproportionately reliant on the property market. It is now obvious to everyone — economists, trade unionists and employers — that the Government is incapable of learning from its mistakes.

The most disappointing aspect of the Government's performance over the past six months is that it seems to be behind the curve on almost everything. It is almost as if the recession was something that came out of the blue — something unexpected, like a car crash. However, when we look at the figures it is obvious that the writing was on the wall since December 2007. In our pre-budget submission in September or October of 2006, we pointed out that there was a massive bubble in the property market and in consumption. However, from the end of 2007 onwards there was a sharp increase in unemployment. The figures went up and up, while job creation fizzled out. This was something that was clear for all to see, yet the Government made no contingency plans to deal with it. Instead of planning for the economic crisis, the Government acted as though we were entering a new era of prosperity. Our former Taoiseach spent his last month of office going from one wine reception to another, patting himself on the back and telling everyone what a great contribution he had made to the economy, while our current Taoiseach paraded around County Offaly on the top of a bus. While the Government was engaged in typical Fianna Fáil triumphalism, the economy began to fall off a cliff, and it has not stopped falling since.

During the summer months and towards Christmas 2008, those bearing the brunt of our economic downturn were labourers and tradespeople in the construction industry, workers in manufacturing, architects and estate agents. However, this tsunami of unemployment has now spread to those in other professions, including solicitors, accountants and bank employees. The director general of the Law Society said recently that hundreds of solicitors were out of work, while major accountancy firms such as KPMG have announced 10% reductions in staff.

Despite the Government's claims that the global downturn is responsible for the problems in our economy — although I accept this is a major factor — the fact is that it promoted a complete over-reliance on the property market while effectively ignoring other critical sectors such as manufacturing and SMEs. This has led to the mass unemployment that has caused suffering to thousands of families. Many of these job losses are unquestionably linked to the collapse of the property market. Solicitors' firms became reliant on conveyancing, while our banking institutions engaged in more and more reckless lending to fuel property speculation. This came about because of Government policy, which sought to make property speculation and development the foundation of our economic policies.

These professionals and tradespeople who are now unemployed will not find any work in their areas of expertise. The Government must make a choice; either it will provide — very rapidly — other areas in which these people can use their skills, or it will force them to emigrate, leading to a brain drain which will perpetuate our economic woes. For those who have been let go but still have their qualifications, the situation is bad, but for those who were made redundant in the middle of their training it is far worse. In response to a parliamentary question I submitted to the Minister recently, I was told that 3,078 apprentices were made redundant in 2008. Already in 2009, hundreds more apprentices have been let go, which will probably shortly include the 60 apprentices at SR Technics. The number of solicitor apprentices and trainee accountants has massively increased. FÁS has not been equipped to handle the volumes of apprentices who need to complete their training or be directed into further training. If we do not invest properly in retraining these young people, they will be left in a very vulnerable position.

There is an overall lack of focus on the needs of young people. More than 14,500 young people have been on the dole for more than six months. Despite the Government mantra of encouraging retraining, this is simply not happening, and there is insufficient investment in getting our younger people back to work. One way in which the needs of younger people can be addressed is by lifting the cap on enrolments in third level courses, as called for in this motion.

Due to the Government's inaction, our social welfare offices are being overrun by construction workers, retail sector workers, professionals and young apprentices. The Government has not equipped them properly to deal with this wave of unemployment and by the admission of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, the waiting time for processing applications for social welfare benefits has increased massively. In welfare offices in Maynooth and Bandon it is taking ten and 13 weeks, respectively, to process allowance claims. The Department of Social and Family Affairs has accepted that the additional staff taken on to deal with the upsurge in claims have no proper training. If there is no training it is difficult to see how we can bring down waiting times.

It is questionable whether enough human resources are being put in place. Perhaps if members of the Government released some of the 90 civil servants doing their constituency work for them——

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