Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The ESRI, which Deputy Bruton quotes this morning, speaks about the importance of maintaining as many jobs as possible. Thankfully, even in the current situation, we have 80% more in employment than 10 or 15 years ago. There are more than 380,000 unemployed, and every one is one too many as far as I am concerned, but there are also 1,800,000 people at work and we must try to maintain those jobs.

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