Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I convey my good wishes to the Minister, Deputy Martin Cullen and, I am sure, in the course of time we will have the opportunity to do so more fully. His announcement yesterday that he intends to retire from the Government and the Dáil has again focussed attention on the question of jobs in Government. One reason the Government lacks the confidence of the public is that while thousands of people are losing their jobs, those in Government appear to be preoccupied with protecting their own jobs, reshuffling and rotating them.

I am informed that, in its present manifestation, as of today the Fianna Fáil Green Party Government is in office 1,000 days and that it is 13 years since Fianna Fáil was re-elected in 1997. The Government's record during those 1,000 days is staggering. Some 270 jobs have been lost per day in the 1,000 days so far. It will be a record very hard to best.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach specifically about one measure which, the Labour Party and I believe, would help greatly to save jobs and get people back to work, that is, a proposal on the Labour Party agenda for this evening to change the law to allow for the downward revision of commercial rents. As the Taoiseach and every Member is aware, one of the areas worst affected by job losses is the retail sector. In every shopping street and centre in the country, retail businesses are pushed to the wall. They are trying to get costs down, custom through the door, to survive and to keep people in employment. One major problem many such businesses face is that they have been locked in to leases negotiated in much better and more promising times. Sometimes, they were locked into these leases in circumstances in which their arms were twisted by landlords or property developers and they signed up to leases with very high rents. Now, they are informed these rents cannot be revised downwards. The proposal by the Labour Party would allow for the downward revision of those commercial rents and would be of very significant help to retailers. It would help to save jobs in these businesses and it would help some retailers to re-employ people and get moving again. All that is required is for the Government to agree to accept it. I call on the Taoiseach to accept the proposal from the Labour Party to allow for the downward revision of commercial rents. It is a specific, positive measure that would help to save jobs and, hopefully, create additional jobs in the retail sector.

See this speech in context