Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

It plans for the recovery of the economy at the expense of those who contributed by their sweat and tears to build it.

I want to localise the issues and refer to my constituency. In the Macroom social welfare office, 664 people were signing on in March 2008. There are now 1,473 doing so, representing an increase of 121%. In the Newmarket office, where 660 people were signing on in March 2008, there are now 1,844 doing so, representing an increase of 179%. Many of these people are forced to experience the indignity of standing in queues in rain and inclement weather and are being forced to wait many weeks before obtaining their entitlements. Included among these are many from the agricultural community who, by virtue of the collapse in the agriculture sector, now qualify for a farm assist payment. Why does the Government fail to recognise the position on the €230 million, which I accept is a lot of money in difficult times? It must not be spirited out of the country to offshore bank accounts but spent on regenerating local economies. The problem with many of the analyses carried out by the Government and outside commentators on the economic difficulties is that they all focus on the macro level. We need to focus on local economies and communities. The money in question would drive these. I wish the Marie Antoinette of Cabinet would take into account these matters.

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