Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

We can only judge the Government's performance by results. Under the stewardship of the Taoiseach, this country was the first into the recession and will be the last out of it. We are now in the third calendar year of a recession.

Let us look at where the Government's policies have got us. Its banking policy is not working. Credit is not being extended to businesses and they are closing down. I met a hotelier recently whose overdraft facility was cut from €25,000 to €15,000. Will the Taoiseach tell that man that the Government's banking policies are working? Its banking policies are not working because credit is not going to business. As it is not going to businesses, they are closing down and people are losing their jobs. The Government's banking policy is not working because not a single loan has yet been transferred to NAMA. The only thing that is happening with the Government's banking policy is that the clock is ticking all the time against the taxpayer, while the cost of the Government's approach to the banking system rising all the time.

The Government's policy on jobs is not working. We have record levels of unemployment. We have had little or no action on the part of the Government to deal with unemployment. The Taoiseach spoke about the FÁS and ESRI report published this morning, telling us that there will be jobs in 2015.

See this speech in context