Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

It may be looking very far down the road to talk about exiting from the broad based stimulus policies when recovery is secured. That presumes that recovery will be secured. That is not what I would have thought the summit will be discussing. We must have recovery and we need to look at other policies to achieve it and to increase employment. There is a recognition that employment is deteriorating. It is accepted that the employment situation in Europe can be expected to deteriorate further. That is stated in the conclusions. How does that rest with a strategy to expand the employment base and create new areas of employment? At the bottom of section 28, it is stated that the European Council "looks forward to discussing a new European strategy for jobs and growth as part of the upcoming review of the Lisbon strategy". To read this one would never imagine we are in an economic crisis.

We did not have a stimulus package in this country so there is no question of our trying to exit a stimulus package when the recovery comes about. What input did we have into this element of the discussion, which is central to ourselves? We are seen as a country with high unemployment. It has risen from 4% two years ago to more than 12%. Our economy is export orientated so that it is unlikely that we will not experience an increase in employment even when our economy recovers. We could find ourselves in a reasonably good economic situation but with persistent long-term unemployment. We need to consider the danger to countries like Ireland and small economies which will find it hard to grow jobs. We must have an input in this area.

Is there an Irish position on the Copenhagen conference? It is only around the corner. We have heard of the intentions of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Taoiseach to travel to the conference but what is our position on the conference. It is a colossal enterprise with €100 billion required in developing country funds. We are talking about €5 billion to €7 billion. What contribution are we expected to make? There must be tentative discussions on these matters. Will we be in a position to bear the brunt we will be expected to bear? How will that feed into the movement towards alternative energy? The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said that by next year, 4% of fuel will have to be bio-fuel. However, 90% of that will have to be imported. That will not result in any improvement in terms of our fossil fuel usage. The principle will be the same in that it will be imported energy. It is not really alternative energy. It will probably be imported from countries in which perhaps as much land as possible should be devoted to food crops; otherwise, the forests of the world will be depleted. It is meaningless unless we produce the bio-fuel ourselves. This is a major issue and we are some distance from thinking it through very carefully.

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