Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

The programme for Government that we are discussing shows quite clearly that while the election results returned one of the biggest changes in political representation, in fact, it yielded one of the most negligible changes in policy. It is somewhat ironic to sit here and listen to Fianna Fáil ochón the broken promises of Fine Gael and Labour when, in effect, those broken promises are the policies Fianna Fáil and the Greens began.

Far from being a programme of national recovery, the programme for Government is a programme of national austerity. It is a recipe for more of the same. Undoubtedly, it will have a devastating impact on the living standards of ordinary people.

I want to deal briefly with the issue of jobs. Apart from the human cost for those who are unemployed and the loss of potential and talent of our people, there is also the impact on the economy. Unless the jobs crisis is dealt with, there cannot be any recovery. Just talking about job creation does not deliver any jobs. There really is no meat on the bones of the Government's proposal. There is a 100 day promise, but it certainly does not give young people in this country the hope referred to by the Taoiseach earlier today.

In contradiction of the previous Deputy on the Government side, the only figure on jobs given in this programme is one for job reduction. The loss of 25,000 jobs in the public sector will have a significant impact on public services which have already lost 17,000 jobs in SNAs, fire fighters, teaching staff, etc., not to mind the cost to the Exchequer.

It is simply a total contradiction in the Government's proposals. It can call them radical, but there really is no meat there to substantiate that. What it has is one Minister's Department commissioned to out to carry out the slaughter in the public sector, which, as has been said, will not be voluntary because the previous Government could not even get that in the HSE and the Government certainly will not get it there. Training places, and 60,000 internships on which there are no details on whether there will be any funding to back that up, is not a replacement of those jobs.

There is a fundamental flaw in the strategy in that it completely relies on the private sector to solve the crisis of 500,000 unemployed people. It is simply not going to happen. Tinkering with PRSI and VAT will merely scratch the surface. Incidentally, the Government will forfeit €1.8 billion in revenue by doing that, but it does not seem to be mentioned in the programme.

The reality is that the private sector has shown itself unwilling to invest because its profit margins are not guaranteed. In fact, there has been a strike of capital in this country over the past number of years. The only way the issues can be addressed is by a State-led programme. Instead the Government is doing the opposite by selling off State assets and putting money into the banks rather than investing in a radical jobs programme. Quite simply, that is a recipe for more of the same and for continued job losses, not job creation.

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