Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach has pointed out three objectives of the Government. When appointed as Taoiseach, he said, "We know only too well from our relatively recent economic history that the wrong policies, the wrong decisions, the wrong behaviour, can carry a very high price in an economy as open and dependent on international trade as we are." These words are true. The IMF report, which we debated in the House last week, indicated clearly that this economy was overheating during the Taoiseach's reign as Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach is correct to state the wrong policies, decisions and behaviour can carry a very high price. That high price is now being borne by every household in the country because people have lost their jobs or their jobs are threatened. If the Government was big enough to accept its own mistakes and admit to having been wrong, it would be much farther down the road towards achieving national consensus on what we must do.

I agreed with the Taoiseach that it is important that every single job be protected. That is why last week I told the Taoiseach to have the Fine Gael proposal examined and costed and come back to us with his considered opinion. We will supply our personnel today to the Taoiseach because this is far too important an issue to indulge in the normal political rant that can take place here.

Deputies Bruton, Coveney and our party have put forward a plan which is costed, has proposals to protect 80,000 jobs and create 100,000 and which can use money from cash rich Irish pension funds or the European Investment Bank or some from the National Pensions Reserve Fund. Surely in light of the Taoiseach's words to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on 5 February, "jobs, jobs, jobs has to be the priority in the coming years", let me take this lst opportunity to question the Taoiseach before we are forced into a summer recess-----

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