Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

As the recession continues to deepen, everyone involved in politics are coming across a great many down-beat and depressed people. In Limerick late last week, I met the most depressed individual I have met in a long time. I refer to Mr. Denis Brosnan who was completely depressed by the fact that following all the work he and his task force had done, the Government had failed to issue a response. Mr. Brosnan did not just make this charge in private; he repeated later on at a press conference held in the hotel where I met him.

Mr. Brosnan indicated that he was depressed because, as far as he was aware, there had not been a response from the Tánaiste's Department or from any of the other Departments to which the 20 recommendations made in the interim report are relevant. He stated that there are three choices for people in the region. The first of these is that our fellow citizens could wallow in long-term unemployment. Alternatively, he said that the Government could initiate a programme under which emigration could be promoted in order that people would move out of the region in the hope of obtaining employment abroad. The third choice is that Government could take initiatives to create jobs in the region.

Mr. Brosnan was depressed and down-beat because he is of the view that the Government has no intention of taking action in respect of the problems of the region and that an entire cohort of individuals, principally young people, would be condemned to long-term unemployment for a generation. The contrast between the briefing Mr. Brosnan gave to Deputies from all parties and the Tánaiste's speech today is amazing. I accept that the Tánaiste is an honest politician and that she is sincere in her views. However, her contribution to this debate was such a collection of guff - prepared by people who do not understand what is happening in the mid-west region - that it is difficult to know whether we are seeking to address the same problem. Most of the claims made in the Tánaiste's speech are not happening on the ground. Túsnua is an invisible organisation. There may be considerable activity in exchanging e-mails and discussing matters with each other, but there is no practical result of any of the initiatives that are being taken. It is appalling that 12 months after all the redundancies we are still at this state.

We all know the history of the problem. Almost 2,000 workers were made redundant in Dell before Christmas last year. Another 2,000 in sub-supply industries where Dell was the principal customer lost their jobs. Another series of jobs that were connected in one way or another to Dell's activities were eroded in the region. The Government knew this was about to happen and the Tánaiste, the local Minister and other Cabinet Ministers did not share the information with either the workers or the public for quite a long period before the redundancies were established. We all have contacts. We were getting the feed through from senior executives in the company-----

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