Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

FÁS is projecting that 335 jobs will be lost every working day this year. The Government is directionless and devoid of ideas. The only prospect for our young is to emigrate, and those who cannot emigrate will be left to waste away on the live register. This summer, our best and brightest will graduate. They will have a qualification in one hand and a Ryanair ticket in the other because no alternative is being offered to them by this Government. We need these young skilled people to help us out of the economic quagmire. They are our future. Without them, we will not have a smart economy, despite the State having invested €60,000 in the education of each scientist and engineer.

Fine Gael has developed a detailed plan to keep these skilled young people and thousands more who are currently unemployed in Ireland. Our stimulus plan will create 100,000 new jobs over four years by bringing high-speed broadband to 1 million homes throughout the country, by ensuring that when one turns on the tap, one has water one can drink, by cutting energy costs in every home in this country by €1,100 per annum, by producing half of our electricity from renewables within ten years and, at the same time, by giving elderly people a fair return on their savings which will be put to work on job creation instead of bailing out the banks.

We have to think smart and we have to use what is available to us. For example, take the State-owned broadband network. By bringing together its elements, we can create 18,000 jobs, 10,000 of which would be in the private sector and could be sustainable in the long term. In addition, we need dramatically improved competitiveness throughout the country. We must open our minds and innovate, not stagnate. I commend the motion to the House.

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