Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

It is timely and appropriate that we are discussing this matter. It is probably the most serious crisis facing the country at the moment, with 434,000 unemployed.

I do not intend to dwell on the national problem but on the local one that affects my constituency and county. I compliment Deputy Varadkar for tabling very practical, down-to-earth proposals. They do not amount to rocket science, they are practical proposals some of which, if adopted, might have some effect on the numbers of unemployed throughout the country. As Deputy Connaughton stated, if some of these proposals, along with those contained in Deputy Coveney's NewERA document, were taken on board by the Government it might represent an attempt to address the crisis in which we find ourselves.

I refer to my county. In September 2007 there were 8,370 registered on the unemployment list in Donegal. Last January that figure had risen to 21,500, an increase of 156% - I worked it out on a calculator before coming down this evening. That is a vast increase.

The Tánaiste will agree that the industrial base of our county has been decimated since 1997 by the present Government and its two immediate predecessors. A litany of iconic industries in our county have closed down during these years. I refer to Fruit of the Loom. In such places as Malin Head, Buncrana, Milford, Raphoe and Dungloe, thousands of jobs were lost. I refer to Hospira in Donegal, with which the Tánaiste is very familiar. Between 600 and 700 jobs were lost there. I refer to UNIFI in Letterkenny and Donegal Parian China. I refer to companies in my area, including BMR, Comar Yarns, Dianorm, RMT, Europlast, Herdsman and Nena Models. The list goes on. Suffice it to say that since 1997, some 12,000 industrial jobs have been lost in Donegal.

The sad fact is that well in excess of one quarter of those who have lost their jobs are under 25 years of age. I came to Dublin last Tuesday. While flying up, I encountered three neighbours. They were young people who have possibly just graduated. I asked where they were going and they replied that they were going to Australia. These were young, well-educated, trained people going to Australia because there was absolutely no prospect of a job.

Fishing is at a low ebb. Killibegs is a ghost town compared to what it used to be years ago. The same goes for Burtonport. Agriculture has its own difficulties. Tourism in Donegal is in difficulties as well. All these industries are gone and there is no evidence of any recognition by the Government that these serious issues must be addressed. There is a good deal of emphasis on rescuing the banks and looking after fiscal matters. However, in my view and that of the 434,000 unemployed in this country, the most important issue is to address the unemployment crisis. We are getting rid of or exporting a generation of young people. They will settle in various countries. We have educated and trained such people. Will they ever come back? This is a serious situation. The Tánaiste and I represent the same constituency. She is in a position to do something about this. She had heard suggestions from this side of the House. I call on the Tánaiste to act upon some of them before we go into an economic tailspin from which we will never recover.

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