Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I believe genuinely that this is not a time for party politics as usual but, for the sake of the record, I want to make the point that when there were budget surpluses, the Government acted to greatly improve the range of services in schools and in hospitals, to increase the numbers in the Garda Síochána and to improve the support for carers, for one-parent families and for older persons, as well as ensuring that we kept many vulnerable unemployed persons out of poverty by improving social welfare payments.

I am proud that the Government also invested in a new motorway network that has increased the competitiveness of the Dublin region and of all the regions in the global market. The Government also invested in a light rail system for Dublin and we should not be ashamed that there is a Luas line serving the communities, in my case, in Tallaght, with easy access to the city centre. These infrastructural developments have not gone out with the economic tsunami.

It is a day where we must reflect on where we are as a country. I note that the national recovery plan has been published in recent hours and I believe that it is about putting the country back on the road to recovery. The plan is about giving people hope by showing the way ahead and giving certainty about the next four years. I believe it is the duty of the Government to do more straight talking to the people about where we are as a country economically and how we get out of here. Put simply, a big cut in Government spending is required to stabilise the public finances and to turn the economy around.

At the same time, we should continue to support the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, and his successor to ensure that the more vulnerable in the community continue to be supported, and I hope that the Minister would clearly take that message back to Cabinet. I believe strongly that it should not be merely a matter of talking about looking after the vulnerable; we should do it. While we all will be worried about what the national plan states about social protection, the Minister must continue to fight his corner and get the job done.

Many will speak in this debate of the transfer of services relating to FÁS to the Department. Here, I have been impressed, if I can admit that, since Deputy Ó Cuív became Minister in the manner in which he has gone about his business, listening to people and making a strong case for getting people back to work and for labour activation. The Minister accepted an invitation from me in the early days of his new position to come to Tallaght - I am not a bit afraid to talk about Tallaght - and I brought him to Fettercairn community centre. We gathered around him people who were involved in CE schemes, people who were involved in JI, people who wanted to get back to work and people who had issues to discuss. I was accused on a radio programme recently of being president of the Deputy Ó Cuív fan club. If that is what people want to taunt me about, that is okay. I am not a bit afraid to say that I was glad that the Minister came to my community, and he has been out to it a number of times since. He listened to what people were saying and I believe that he is trying to implement a number of the suggestions people made. Indeed, the Minister, if I can be parochial again, since came out to Killinarden and Jobstown at the invitation of the local committees to launch their enhancement programmes, where, again, he had the opportunity to hear what people were saying and to hear what the challenges are for those on community employment. This morning, we had a very interesting meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, of which I am Vice Chairman. Deputy Durkan and Senator McFadden were in attendance. A delegation came before the committee to discuss the "Your Right Your Fight" campaign of community employment workers. SIPTU and OPEN were also present as were a number of lone parents and other interested parties. The Minister will be glad to know, on the difficult day he might be having today, that the delegation put on record its appreciation of the response he has already made to it. I understand the Minister met the representatives last week. They were very impressed with his attitude towards them and they understand he has undertaken to ensure the campaign is successful. This is very important. Given the all-party approach we took at the joint Oireachtas committee it is important that I record this.

It is important to stress to the Minister that people are making a point about labour activation. They are anxious that the community employment scheme would continue. I can talk all day, as can other colleagues, about my community. I stated at today's committee meeting that my community has a number of very successful community employment schemes. I am a member of the board of Trust Us, which was the Tallaght Welfare Society. I was involved in Get Tallaght Working, which is now known as Partas. At present, I am on the board of the Tallaght rehabilitation project, the Tallaght drugs task force, the Tallaght centre for the unemployed and the Tallaght homeless advice unit, all of which have supported community employment schemes in very strong way over the years.

I have already mentioned the presence in the Dáil today of representatives of St. Dominic's community centre. It is one of the more successful community employment schemes. The Minister has been to St. Dominic's where he was welcomed by the fine board and by the manager, Deirdre Cleary. All of the young people know the type of centre which operates there. The worth of community employment and job initiative schemes can be seen in such centres where people have an opportunity, at a time when they need to be boosted, to get some confidence back. They can get involved in these projects and do good. Not only do these schemes give an unemployed person something very positive and meaningful to do which will boost his or her confidence, it also helps in a very positive way the local community. Tallaght, Firhouse, Templeogue, Greenhills, Brittas and Bohernabreena are no different from anywhere in Louth, Galway, Kildare, Tipperary or Roscommon. People are given an opportunity to go on schemes at a time when, let us be honest, jobs are not plentiful and getting people back to work is a challenge. It has to be about jobs. Whatever about everything that is going on and everything that we will read about tonight and tomorrow, solving the country's difficult situation is about getting people back to work, job activation and creating employment.

I hope, and I state this from the Fianna Fáil benches, that whatever else is in the budget, and there is much doom and gloom about this at present, the Government will understand that whatever about the clear need to stabilise the economy we must also give people confidence. We cannot cancel Christmas. We cannot tell the unemployed, the new poor and people under pressure that there is no future. We must allow people to get about their business, to continue to have confidence and to continue to be able to invest.

In my local social welfare office almost 11,000 unemployed people are signing on. This is the challenge. The Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, has visited my community and many others throughout the country. In whatever time is left to the Government I hope the Minister will continue to do what he is good at, which is listening to people, caring about people and trying to do something in a very positive way for those who are less well off. He continues to have my support in this regard and I wish him well.

I am not despondent. Whatever happens to me in the future and whatever happens in the election is okay by me because I am a democrat. I did not come into politics for selfish reasons. I never set out to be a politician; I was a happy community worker living in my community and people encouraged me. I came to the Dáil at an interesting time in my life and I was happy to come here. I am still a happy Deputy despite all of the difficulties that are going on. All I am doing is getting up every morning, working for my community and listening to what people in my community are saying. Not everybody is happy and, let us say quietly, there is some abuse flying and that is fair enough. As I see it, my job when I come to the Dáil on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays is to represent what people say to me and to appeal to the Government to continue to look after the vulnerable, and I will not be distracted from that.

I expect the Bill will continue to get various reactions. It would please people if the Minister took control of those elements of FÁS handed over to the Department of Social Protection. Other colleagues have spoken about FÁS and we all know the challenges and the difficulties faced by FÁS in this regard. I also heard colleagues, including spokespersons, paying tribute to local centres and local offices. The old AnCO centre in Cookstown industrial estate was first opened all those years ago by that good man from Cork, Gene Fitzgerald. I attended that opening; I was much younger then but I remember the day very well. I remember the boost it gave to my community. This was in the days when Tallaght did not have the facilities the community enjoys now. The FÁS centre in Cookstown industrial estate has become very important but it is used less than it should be. On behalf of my community, I hope the Minister will speak to the FÁS management about this. Let us use these centres. Let us get people in and help to retrain them. Let us give them confidence and help them invest in their future. FÁS has challenges but it still has a job to do. If FÁS had a job to do in the good times when there was no real unemployment, it certainly has a job to do now when there is major unemployment. My community has suffered from unemployment in recent times and this has to be tackled.

In the midst of all the gloom, I was present on the Airton Road in Tallaght last Wednesday when the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, visited for the announcement by Paddy Power bookmakers of 500 top-quality jobs. One would be amazed at the boost this gave to our community. All of the other local Deputies, namely, the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, and Deputies Pat Rabbitte and Brian Hayes also attended. It was a great day for Tallaght and the media made the point that we all seemed to have a smile on our face. It is important that we have more such days and other Deputies can speak about their constituencies. As we go forward and tackle the crisis in which we find ourselves, it is important that more jobs are created. This will put less pressure on the social protection budget and it will also, in a real sense, cheer up people and give people an opportunity to be confident and do something about their own situation.

If I were the Minister I would reflect on what has been stated by Deputies throughout the Chamber about FÁS. There is a job to be done. I believe the management of FÁS by the Department will be positive and welcome. The Minister needs to consider the future of community employment and job initiative schemes. There is much talk about the future of these schemes and how they will be developed. We have already had good news in that regard today from the Minister at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection. It is important the Minister understands there is work to be done.

I remember listening to the Minister one evening at a meeting in Tallaght and hearing him speak about what needs to be done in communities. The recession has added to that. I mentioned the St. Dominic's community centre earlier. When the Minister visited that centre he saw computer groups and young people, a group of whom have come to visit the Dáil today through the courtesy of the local Garda Síochána to listen to this debate. These young people would tell the Minister how positive that centre is on any given day, as a result of the work done through the schemes mentioned. We could all bring the Minister to centres in our constituencies that are not quite utilised as much. It is important that where the opportunity arises, the Minister continues to ensure these centres are properly used. I suspect the Minister has had some talks with FÁS management already, but I hope that before the passage of this Bill, he will talk seriously to them and make it clear that we are now in a situation where with the challenges facing the country real employment challenges face communities. FÁS has a job to do in local areas and the need of my constituency is no different in that regard.

The Minister will understand that representations are being made to all Deputies by lone parents and others who are concerned about all the reports they are reading in the newspapers. As I said recently, when I emigrated all those years ago, I went because I could not find a job. I did not know, because the media had not informed me, that the country was in dire straits at the time. I do not suggest information should not be available, but many people have told me that they are almost afraid to read the papers. Somebody advised me recently that I should read the paper once a week and listen to the media once a day. I do not wish to blame or pick on the media. They have a job to do and they do it. However, people are getting so much information that it adds to their fears. They are angry. For the past three or four weeks, every Sunday paper has been telling us what will be in the budget. Perhaps, with the publication of the national plan today, we will have some idea of the truth. There are clear suggestions in the plan about the shape of social welfare in the future. Nevertheless, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, made the point last night that he will not anticipate the budget until the day. However, we will continue to get speculation that will upset people.

The situation affects people who are in difficulties and challenged by poverty, people who are unemployed and the so-called new poor. Many people who were well off a year or two ago are now challenged. They can no longer take a holiday or buy a new car and, more seriously, are under pressure with their mortgages. I do not want to deviate from the issues, but -----

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