Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Those who are out of work are not a low priority for this or any other Government. With regard to the specific steps taken, compared to some years ago we have considerably increased training and other placements for people who are unemployed. A consistent effort is being made to assist those who are unemployed. With regard to the prospects for renewed employment growth, jobs are not created in a vacuum, they are created on the basis of making our economy more competitive and being able to sell more goods and services in what has been a depressed marketplace. As the world pulls out of recession this open economy must position itself to deal with it.

It is true that we have seen from the adjustment for unemployment, based on the quarterly national household survey, that there are 270,000 on the live register and a further 75,000 people in part-time employment who also receive benefits. Unfortunately, unemployment rates have risen and 5% of our population is regarded as long-term unemployed. We have to continue to work and come forward with whatever initiatives we can, in addition to what we already do, to assist them. The best way in which jobs can be created in this country will be to pursue the strategy we are pursuing. It is estimated that there will be net employment creation here next year on the basis of the strategy we are providing at present.

There is an idea that it is possible to deal with the situation and return to the very low unemployment we saw before this crisis began, but it is not possible. It is also clear that were we to have taken some of the strategies suggested by the Labour Party in the midst of the crisis we would be speaking about a far worse situation. The important point for us to make is that we are committed to making sure that we find a greater degree of job creation in our economy based on making it more competitive, getting our public finances back in order and supporting enterprise to the greatest extent we possible can.

See this speech in context