Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I met people on the way back from Killarney where the Minister had addressed a credit union conference. He boasted that Irish people took pain that would cause riots in other countries. Where are the Minister's measures to deal with the 90,000 or so graduates and the additional tens of thousands of qualified apprentices? These are not unskilled people but have high levels of training and have been educated to a high level. What has the Government got to offer them and their distressed parents? They see their brilliant children, who have achieved academically and in apprenticeships, being offered nothing by this Government.

The Labour Party has put forward a series of proposals, including a graduate and apprentice internship system, while the Minister's Government has offered nothing. Is the Minister prepared to read the Labour Party's programme and to take on some of our ideas? We proposed that European Investment Bank funds for small and medium industries and enterprises should be utilised but so far this has been taken up to only a tiny degree although it is a €30 billion programme across the EU. We suggested a much bigger stabilisation fund than the small one the Minister announced he would start. We proposed a series of other initiatives to get people back to work but there has been no meaningful response from the Minister or from the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They seem to be asleep on the job

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