Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom an deis seo a úsáid le labhairt ar na gnóthaí tábhachta atá ar bun ag an Rialtas. Ar ndóigh, tá an t-ádh linn gur ceannaire láidir stuama is ea an Taoiseach, an Teachta Cowen, agus an tír ag tabhairt aghaidh ar na dúshláin suntasacha atá romhainn faoi láthair. Nuair a chas na cúinsí eacnamúla, sheas an Taoiseach an fód. Tá sé ag tabhairt ceannasaíocht láidir don tír, agus é ag dul i ngleic leis an méid a tharla sa gheilleagar agus sna bainc. Tá a chroí agus a anam ina chuid oibre chun leigheas a fháil ar na dúshláin sin, níos mó fostaíochta a chruthú agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do theaghlaigh na tíre.

I am pleased to speak in favour of the motion of confidence in the Taoiseach, Deputy Brian Cowen, and his Government. The energy and hard work of all parties in this House would be best focused on driving forward the solutions that will create meaningful work for people and deal with the day-to-day challenges faced by them. That is what the Government is focused on doing.

Under the leadership of Deputy Brian Cowen, this Government is taking a number of key actions to protect the most vulnerable people of all ages. We are directing €20.9 billion towards social welfare expenditure in 2010. We have set up a group, which is due to report soon, to examine the issues facing those in mortgage arrears and those facing personal debt. We are also focused on assisting those who have lost jobs and creating work opportunities for them.

I agree with one minor point made by Deputy Ring. The greatest challenge facing our people is joblessness and the major challenge it visits on households around the country. People often think of unemployment in terms of income loss but it is also about dignity, confidence, the loss of something challenging to do everyday and the loss of social contact with workmates. One of the important decisions taken by the Taoiseach and the Government, and one of the priorities given to me, is to place a particular focus on job activation. The new Department brings a joined-up approach to examine job activation in its widest context, with income support. We need to create a better future for unemployed people, with work activity in the short term, to upskill them and give them opportunities to get back into the mainstream workforce as speedily as possible. We face a number of challenges in the next two years in creating opportunities for those people to work but we will make progress by being positive, finding new ways to draw on our traditional strengths and making ourselves competitive again.

The Taoiseach has given my Department the sensible aim of ensuring that when a person visits the local social welfare office, the officials dealing with work placement will in time be working side-by-side with those dealing with payments. The new Department will provide a one-stop shop for people who face the prospect of unemployment. This will give people a better service. In the wider context, the reorganisation announced by the Taoiseach focuses on the main challenges we face. We speak about an innovation economy but for that we must have the best system of giving people new skills so they can avail of changed opportunities. In the reorganisation we will be able to tackle the issues of work and support for people and communities and upskilling, training and education.

Deputy Ring referred to the banks and the financial sector. The reason we are straightening out the banks is not to make life easy for those in the banking sector, who got us into a mess, but to set a solid foundation on which we can support enterprise and create new jobs. It is also about protecting people's investment, either made directly or indirectly through life assurance or pension policies, etc.

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