Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I will speak about the amendment. The biggest impact of the banking crisis and the international recession has been on jobs and employment in general. Recent extremely disturbing job losses have caused considerable uncertainty in the economy. Anxiety among those in the vulnerable sectors has added to that uncertainty and further eroded confidence. That has resulted in a further weakening of the economy. We have ended up in a downward spiral that has to be hindered, stopped and dealt with. The Government is taking the multifaceted approach that is necessary to deal with this crisis. It is assisting those who lose their jobs by providing social welfare. It is helping them to work towards re-employment by providing training and personal development programmes. It is important that the Government has deployed additional resources to deal with the social welfare backlogs that exist. Like others, I recognise the tremendous efforts being made by the staff of the social welfare service to accommodate those who find themselves in difficult personal circumstances.

The Government is supporting viable but vulnerable companies. We need to work with the European Commission and with fund managers to make sure such companies can access credit. Job retention is obviously the best solution. It is difficult to provide funds for all job retention schemes. We have to bear in mind that the State cannot support every job in the State. The Government is continuing to try to attract foreign direct investment through IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and Enterprise Ireland. There are opportunities in a recessionary environment. Many international companies are consolidating. We need to continue to try to create jobs in this sector, particularly to benefit those who are unemployed. The Government's efforts in this regard were recognised in a recent report on global competitiveness. Ireland was ranked extremely highly in the 2009 yearbook. It is a leader in a number of areas. We have to help indigenous industries to increase employment, for example by supporting their sales and marketing efforts. I suppose our costs needs to be reduced. We have become more competitive. We should help Irish companies to develop overseas markets for their products. It is obvious that opportunities will arise as other international players fail. We have to assist start-up companies. There seems to be a notion that start-up companies and entrepreneurs will resolve this on their own. That is the panacea that has been put forward by the Opposition. It will take start-up companies a long time to reach the point at which they can deal with the crisis we are facing. While we need to assist start-up companies, we should concentrate on retaining jobs in companies that are already employing people and look to the larger multinationals to create jobs on a more immediate basis.

The jobs crisis cannot be resolved without a resolution of the banking crisis. As we try to help the unemployed, we should strive for a more proactive engagement on an individual basis. Training must be focused. Many people are rudderless as a result of the shock of unemployment. People need a period of reflection. They need to be helped to identify a career path for the next phase of their lives, rather than jumping into a training course. Personal development should involve identifying individual strengths and focusing on them to build a strategy that will lead to re-employment, where possible. It is obvious that we should enhance those strengths through further training. It is clear that the economy will only recover when the banking crisis is stabilised. As other Deputies have said, the Opposition has been very disingenuous and mischievous. As Deputy Collins said, the simple reality is that if Anglo Irish Bank had not been nationalised and included in the guarantee scheme, those who would really have suffered would have included pensioners, those with money in credit unions, charities and vulnerable community groups. What Opposition Members have suggested about the Government having erred in some way is mischievous when what it did was protect those vulnerable groups.

Our jobless are heading towards 500,000. We need to create meaningful engagement for those who are unemployed, particularly for those who were employed in the construction sector. They are prepared to participate in their communities in return for the support they receive through social welfare. We can assist them in harnessing that activity.

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