Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Nothing in the budget will generate employment, support employment activity or encourage employers to take on new employees. There are no measures in place. The State agencies have not been re-geared to deal with the immediate problems facing people who are losing employment or are self-employed and cannot get assistance. In some cases, self-employed people cannot even get income continuance because they were not in the social insurance system. Those people are not getting help from the Government.

The Government does not have a jobs-centred strategy.

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