Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I welcome the jobs initiative. It was not designed to be a panacea and I do not believe a panacea can be achieved in such a short space of time. What it seeks to do, however, is to provide an overarching framework which will underpin the economic recovery. Within that framework there is a set of criteria so existing jobs can be maintained, the cost of doing business can be reduced, people can be helped back to work and there can be an attempt to restore confidence in the economy. In that way people can begin the recovery which is so vital to our national interest and to the interests of those people who are looking at this House and asking what we are trying to do to fulfil our mandate to them.

At this juncture members of the Opposition may posit the notion that the initiative does not necessarily fulfil all the obligations set out in the Labour Party or Fine Gael manifestos. However, a programme for Government was agreed and mandated by this House. In the normal day to day life of a parliament we score points off one another - this is vital and we have all done it. The situation is that we will not get the 400,000 people we want to see back in work back at work within eight or nine weeks. It is simply not possible. What we can do, however, is to try to instil some confidence and some pride in the fact that governance in this country is based on the idea that we will serve the people-----

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