Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I congratulate the new appointees to the Cabinet, Deputies Pat Carey and Tony Killeen, and wish them well. I also congratulate those who have been appointed as Ministers of State. It is a great honour and also a challenge to be granted ministerial responsibility. I wish those who have been given such responsibility well.

The presentation of the new Cabinet arrangements by the Taoiseach did not inspire confidence on my part. It would have been very useful, in making his announcement on the reconfiguration of the Cabinet, if the Taoiseach had indicated at the outset the clear objectives that are to be achieved. The Taoiseach's contribution has been followed by contributions from other members of the Government which are hectoring in tone. Successive Ministers have informed us that they were obliged to take the difficult decisions and that we opposed them. They omitted to indicate that they took those decisions in respect of the wrong policy.

Members of the public are currently asking whether anything has changed to a significant degree and whether, if such change has occurred, whether it will lead to their trusting the political system. In that context, they are going to hone in on the problem of unemployment and ask whether the new arrangements relating to the Cabinet will make it possible to protect or create jobs. They will also inquire whether those arrangements will help to address the needs of the 437,000 people who are unemployed. I welcome the comments of the Minister, Deputy Mary Hanafin, regarding the possibilities that exist in her new area of responsibility. She was the exception among those opposite in that she referred to the area in respect of which she will have responsibility. Other Ministers did not really do that.

The Tánaiste used material from the European Commission's report when she stated that Irish graduates are among the most employable in the western world. Is it not then an incredible tragedy that so many of them are unemployed? So much of the social capital that has been invested in these people will be lost if they are forced to emigrate. Of course, we must hope that there may be opportunities abroad to which they might emigrate.

What is happening is tragic. We must get real and ask the relevant questions. For example, where are the graduate placements across the public service and the semi-State sector that were promised? The answer is that they do not exist. That is a failure. A brave Taoiseach would have stated that the old economic paradigm, including its international dimension, to which the current holder of the office of Taoiseach makes regular reference, is no more. At the recent meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, Professor Patrick Honohan stated that market fundamentalism is gone. There should be an admission of what it is that is dead. The public should be informed as to what is new.

Smart technocratic adjustments involving changing the people who are in charge of the lifeboats as the Titanic sinks will not achieve anything. What is needed is a specification of priorities. I will provide an example in that regard and I do not offer it as some form of intellectual abstraction. I do not have the figures in front of me but I understand that there may be between €18 billion and €20 billion left in the National Pensions Reserve Fund. What is to happen to this money? Is it to be invested in the real economy in order to save it and to create jobs or will it be thrown into the black hole that is called the recapitalisation of some banks that were never of systemic importance?

People are seeking an approach towards the economy that will redefine work, seize upon the benefits that are to be had from the green economy in the context of employment and recognise those who provide social care as workers. In addition, people want the Government to identify the rich opportunities on offer in the cultural economy. It is interesting that the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Hanafin, referred to the fact that the reputation of this country was achieved collectively by the Irish people and that they did not believe in extreme individualism. That reputation was destroyed by those who drew upon a theory of market fundamentalism and who did not care tuppence for solidarity. It is very interesting as we take a new direction that it is precisely those who believed in values of solidarity, community and inclusive citizenships who redefined the new economy. We did not get that nor did the reconfiguration address what might achieve even a beginning of it.

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