Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

The purpose of this Private Members' motion is to highlight the root cause of our economic and social problems. The tsunami of unemployment that is spreading throughout the country is causing the economy the grind to a halt. The unemployment figures for my own county are startling. There are currently 15,204 people signing on the Live Register, which is almost double the figure for the same time last year. Thousands more are on short-time working. The overall figure in Kerry has decreased slightly over the last two months. However, all of these decreases have been in towns in south Kerry due to the onset of the tourist season. Unfortunately, my constituency has seen a continuous increase in the number of people seeking State assistance. Almost half of those signing on in the county are from the Tralee area and the surrounding environs, and it is apparent that this is where the focus needs to be if the situation is to improve.

Two years ago I and other politicians were describing unemployment in Tralee as dire when the figure reached 3,000. However, the figure now stands at more than double that, with 6,371 currently on the dole. There are no words available to describe the situation as it currently stands and because of the inaction of the current Government it is unlikely that things will improve over the next six months. It is clear the figures for Tralee will grow substantially when those who have been or will be made redundant are brought into the system. On top of the collapse of the construction industry, upon which this region relied so heavily, we have also seen the closure of a number of major employers in the south west - including Amman in Tralee, Dell in Limerick and Kostal in Abbeyfeale - and we are now faced with the likelihood of the loss of a further 200 jobs at Beru, which is probably the last factory in Tralee.

What our economy needs is sustenance, not further punishment. It needs policies which will seek to maintain existing employment where possible and prepare the ground for new employment. Sinn Féin is the only political party that has set out substantial detailed proposals - 80 of them - to get people back to work. Protecting jobs and creating new employment is an absolute priority for us. Everyone agrees, including the Government, that for a prosperous Ireland we need to attract new innovative industry. For that we need a highly skilled and motivated workforce and we need education, beginning at an early age and going through to fourth level where appropriate.

During the course of the recent local and European election campaign, my party made a number of proposals to help get people back to work. Tralee, the capital of County Kerry, has an institute of technology which could be transformed into a university. This would act as an educational engine to drive a new local economy and put Kerry on the map nationally and internationally as an area that can produce a highly skilled and talented workforce. We need to rethink the construction, service and procurement contracts of local authorities to create a level playing field for small tradesmen and businesses to tender. Breaking tenders into smaller pieces would allow smaller contractors to tender effectively for work.

A comprehensive skills and education strategy would prepare workers to create and take up new employment. This would involve bringing early school leavers back to education, investing in community employment and allowing unemployed workers to keep their benefits while attending college. At-risk jobs could be saved by establishing a State fund. It was in this House that my colleague Deputy Arthur Morgan proposed that we establish a State bank instead of using public money to bail out the banking system that currently exists.

Construction workers can get back to work building schools, insulating homes and delivering much-needed broadband infrastructure. Each county has its fair share of schools which desperately need completely new buildings or upgrading. It is a disgrace that we are paying out hundreds of millions of euro per year on prefabricated buildings when we could provide gainful employment building schools for the future. Investment in major projects with important social gain, such as new accident and emergency units or maternity units, should be followed through. Fast-tracking local infrastructural works is crucial to put people back to work and to remove one of the main barriers to inward investment into the State. One such programme would be to ensure the completion of all necessary access roads, particularly those serving the west coast. 8 o'clock

We must move away from the politics of unsustainable development, of an economy run for the golden circle rather than for those who created it. The proposals I have outlined, as well as the 80 proposals contained within our Job Creation document, would create hundreds of jobs throughout the State and ensure sustainable growth into the future. These proposals aim to build an economy that will reward those who contribute to it.

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