Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Those are devastating figures. Following on the Exchequer returns yesterday, they are a litany of despair from a Government that has failed to put any plan or strategy in place to deal with this situation. There is no point in drifting onwards and looking back in six months to see what might have happened. It is apparent from the Exchequer returns yesterday that every tax is down, but leaping out of those figures is the decline in VAT. The reason for that is, first, consumers have less money to spend, but they are fearful of spending money because no plan, strategy or hope is being given to them by Government.

Governments can make things happen. The Government must do something. For instance, it could examine the reality of literally thousands of retail outlets around the country that are barely hanging on. I predict that at the end of the first quarter several thousand more of them will be closed unless the Government does something. For instance, it could introduce the concept put forward by Fine Gael of a national recovery bank, which would introduce a new stream of credit into the economy that would allow for jobs to be retained, new jobs to be created and businesses to stay open. The Government could do that. It could consider the proposition put forward by Fine Gael of NewERA, a national economic recovery authority, which we reckon would create 100,000 jobs across the country in communications and renewables; jobs for engineers, graphic designers and farmers right across the country. The Government could do that. It could offer people a plan, hope and strategy to show that it is able to do something about a situation that is a litany of despair and disaster.

A total of 60,000 young people under the age of 25 have left the country. If the valve of emigration was not open the real figure for unemployment would be more than 500,000. Those young people are gone. They are in Australia, Canada, America and Britain. They are doing jobs for which they are completely over-qualified because the Government has failed to put any plan or strategy in place. It is clear from the evidence that the Government's economic plan, banking plan and stimulus have failed. What does the Government propose to do about that?

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