Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

No other topic to be discussed in this House will be as important as this one. We are now speaking on behalf of 434,000 people throughout the country who have nothing to look forward to every day but the dole.

To give an idea of how widespread is the malaise, even in the peripheral areas, in one month alone, from December to January, unemployment in Ballinasloe went up to 2,643, equivalent to a rise of 3.2%, in Clifden it was 7.6%, Galway city 2.5%, Gort 7.3%, Loughrea 5% and in the Tuam area it went up to 3,400, a 5.3% increase. If this is going to continue it will be extremely difficult for the Government to pay the social welfare bill. Nobody wants to be on social welfare and the vast majority of the 434,000 are asking whether there is a way out and if anyone has the answer.

I am not saying there is a magical answer which will solve all the problems, but I genuinely believe that if there is a will, there is a way to make a start. The start made by Fine Gael in terms of the hours, weeks and months that have gone into the preparation of those five or six plans is very significant. I ask the Minister to take them seriously, because that is what parliamentary democracy is all about. So far, however, the Tánaiste and her Ministers of State have taken no notice of anybody and that is the cul-de-sac in which she finds herself.

A two-pronged attack is required. Take the simple proposals like the community employment, CE, schemes. All over the country there is a world of work to be done, with people wanting to go out. I have been told by people that they are ready to earn the equivalent of what they can get on social welfare, just as long as they are working. The community people want them to work and there is no shortage of good schemes. Take the NewERA, as proposed by Deputy Coveney. That is the most fundamental proposal for change in the semi-States I have ever come across. It has been market tested and we genuinely believe in terms of the investment it will attract in the future, it will certainly mean there will be a revitalised engine in the State, with all types of new jobs being created that were never dreamt of before. I am talking about energy, broadband etc. and all the things that will make us extremely competitive when this terrible storm blows over, which it will in time.

I say straight to the Tánaiste's face that the problem with the Government is that it appears to be so bogged down, it is akin to rabbits being caught in headlights. It has no direction, and it appears there is no hope from the Government's viewpoint. I acknowledge that it will be extremely difficult, but there are many ways to approach the problem of unemployment. The workshare initiative referred to by Deputy Varadkar, for instance, could be made to work very well.

There is nothing as degrading for a man or woman, regardless of age, as to have to stay at home without a job. It is an inhuman state for people. Even if they had to workshare over the next year or two until better times come, whatever it costs, I believe it is important to have that linkage, experience and training in the workforce. Anything is better than to be cut adrift.

See this speech in context