Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

That is grand but I will be helpful to the Minister of State also. The Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, said earlier that this seems to be very good news for the Government because the figures are down. He forgot to mention the number of graduates and others who have emigrated. In my own county and town, I have noted the number of young people who will not be home for Christmas. This is the first time in recent years that we have seen young people having to leave the country because there is no work for them. More young people will be graduating in June, yet there will be no work for them either. I hope there will be places for them to go to because there will be no work in this country.

I would like the Minister of State to answer this question - with that number of people on the live register, why did more than 5,000 people receive work permits to enter this country last year? Was that done to push down the minimum wage? Even if the Minister of State's unemployment figures are correct, why do we need to bring in people to do work which can be done by Irish workers? The Department should examine this matter.

Deputy English is right to refer to stealth taxes, which have been discussed by Opposition Members as well as Fianna Fáil TDs. The Government has lost control of local authority regulation. There has been no respect for business for the past 20 years because the Government thought builders and bankers would keep the country running, but that was never going to happen. We forgot where we started in small businesses, which constitute the backbone of the economy. Nevertheless, small businesses have been attacked by the Government through over-regulation and attacked by local authorities through stealth taxes. Every time local authorities wanted an increase in water charges, rates or other levies, they thought they could impose it on the business community and they did so. I am surprised that over the years the national chambers of commerce did not take a case against the Government and local authorities because that section of the community was paying rates yet getting nothing for them.

Small businesses pay rates, water and refuse collection charges. A new regulation now seeks to control where publicans put their empty bottles. There are to be more levies and regulations over where bottles are to be disposed of. Publicans are hardly able to keep the pub doors open, not to mention pay their staff and taxes, yet somebody comes along with a new regulation stipulating that empty bottles must be disposed of in bags and buried for Deputy John Gormley and the Green Party. The sooner we get rid of this Government, the better because it has destroyed business and the country generally. The sooner the Government leaves office, the better because this green energy campaign is costing jobs and money in rural Ireland.

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