Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

One of the problems is that there are so many Ministers of State that they are falling over each other. Meanwhile, the Government has been using private consultants to a ludicrous degree but there is little to show for all the money spent. The Government flounders from action to reaction when its decisions prove inadequate to the task of leading us out of the quagmire in which we find ourselves. While thousands join the dole queues, thousands more worry that their jobs are in jeopardy. Yet we are still waiting for the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coughlan, to provide us with the jobs strategy that has been sought and demanded across the board.

At a social level, while the elderly and the young are battered by the effects of cutbacks, there are examples of greed and excess continuing uncontrolled. The payment of a bonus of €1 million to Mr. Michael Fingleton is an obscenity that demands swift and effective retribution. Instead, what we get from the Taoiseach is a promise of a report within a month. While residents in housing estates are suffering from endemic anti-social behaviour that goes unpunished, we have the ludicrous sight of gardaí entering a radio station premises to force information to be handed over in regard to an artist who played a practical joke on the Royal Hibernian Academy and the National Gallery of Ireland. It is difficult to believe that gardaí have nothing better to do. The craven apology given out by RTE for its temerity in covering the artist's caper only serves to undermine public confidence that our national radio station is truly independent of political interference.

Is it any wonder that recent research shows us to be the most pessimistic people in Europe? When it comes to debating this or any other issue, what is required above all is public confidence. The trust of the people has been totally undermined by the way in which the Government fuelled the worst excesses of the property bubble and banking scandals before proving itself so defective in coping with the impact on our economy when the bubble burst and the banks were exposed for their part in the debacle.

There must be lean and keen government that offers leadership to a demoralised public. A general election would at least give a mandate to a new Administration to begin the reconstruction of public confidence. We may get that opportunity. In the meantime, however, we are faced with a budget in which certain key issues must be addressed. The first and foremost must be the creation and maintenance of jobs. It costs more than €20,000 to support a person who is out of work. The bulk of those unemployed are construction workers. The Minister and I have seen the most extraordinary mushrooming of people out of work in our constituency. The dole queues are so long that social welfare offices cannot cope with the demand.

Many of the construction workers who have lost their jobs could be employed in the implementation of the many essential projects that require to be undertaken, including the building of schools and hospitals, the upgrading of our housing stock to make it more energy efficient and the implementation of improvements to the living conditions of the elderly and disabled in our communities. The allocation for the disabled persons grant scheme is a pittance. The little that was available has now disappeared.

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