Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am sure the Deputy will join me in condemning what appears to be deliberate arson attacks by a person or persons unknown in various locations throughout the country. Vegetation was destroyed as a result of the frost last winter and the current dry weather, so with the strong breeze these fires have become quite dangerous. I spoke to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and he was in constant touch with the emergency officer in the Department and with the fire officers and emergency services in the counties affected. I commend the work of all involved in the emergency services, particularly on evacuating people to safety from houses in Donegal. I also commend the farming community for lending equipment such as slurry tanks and so forth to assist in putting out the fires. The emergency services also assisted with helicopters. In Ireland, people are accustomed to praying for fine weather or for rain according to the seasons. The rain that is threatened for the weekend might well be a benefit in quenching the fires that continue to burn at higher levels on our mountains.

The jobs initiative will be introduced by the Minister for Finance in the Dáil next Tuesday. It will be fiscally neutral. At a time such as this I would love to be in a position to reel out to the nation the benefit of what could be spent of the €3 billion commitment arising from the promissory note to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society, INBS, for each of the next ten years, but that is the situation we are in. Given that constraint on the Government, the Minister for Finance will introduce a jobs initiative that will be fiscally neutral. He will point out how adjustments and payments can be made for the initiative. I hope that in the ensuing debate Members will dwell on the reality, and not theory, of what we can actually do. I hope the package being put together will bring about an understanding of our current position and the truth of the scale of the problem, but within that the opportunity for providing careers and employment, for taking on new workers and for retraining. All these areas will be covered in the Minister's statement on Tuesday and the House will have the opportunity to debate it in due course.

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