Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

That is all very fine but one of the big failures of the Government is that it has not interacted directly with the creators of employment and the business sector. It is perfectly obvious that many of them are struggling in terms of competitiveness, costs of transport and energy, sterling and the difficulties that are placed in the way of creating jobs and allowing business to flourish. For my part, I intend to take my economic team around the country in the few weeks before the budget to hear their views directly. The figures for redundancies from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show that there were 5,888 in August, 6,012 in September and 6,561 in October. These official figures from the Department show the trend is increasing, while the indications are that when the tax returns come in at the end of November, there will be a devastating situation in which many of those who are self-employed or are employing small numbers of people will be simply out of business.

This is the first time there has been a serious return to emigration since 1995. It is a long time since the late Brian Lenihan said that Ireland was too small for all its young people, and we have no wish to return to the experience of the 1950s or the 1980s when emigration was a release valve. In any event, there are few opportunities abroad now. In addition to those redundancy figures and the fact that both IBEC and ICTU have criticised the Government's jobs strategy, the OECD report released today states there is a risk that the high rate of unemployment could be sustained due to a combination of weaknesses in activation policies, which is jargon for a jobs strategy. The €100 million stabilisation fund is only a drop in the ocean. I am sure the Taoiseach is interested in finding ways that jobs can be created. Consider all the young professionals, such as physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and so forth, emerging from university. The taxpayer has paid for their training and high qualifications but there is no future for them in this country in view of the increasing redundancy rates.

We know the Government must deal with the public finances and the banking crisis, and we agree in broad principle with the figures the Taoiseach has given. However, the central issue is that there must be a jobs strategy from the Government. Putting people in programmes and placements here and there is only camouflage for the real problem. What is the main thrust of the Government's job strategy in terms of giving young people hope and confidence that they should stay in this country and that there will be employment for them? How many of these young people can we expect to see in employment as a result of an environment being created by Government in which jobs can be created and in which they can have the prospect of a job in their own country? What are the three major points of the Government's jobs strategy to give young people hope and confidence and to ensure we will not lose this generation with their skills, trades and potential to other countries?

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