Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

There is no secrecy about this initiative. I made it perfectly clear that it was a top priority of the Government to focus on creating jobs, getting people back to work and developing our economy. The Deputy is not interested in a Punch and Judy show and neither am I. In his statement yesterday, the Minister for Finance set out the details of this initiative and what it could mean in terms of job creation and getting people off the live register and back into work. I am sure the Deputy knows young people in his own constituency who had gone three quarters of the way through the process of acquiring a trade but have found themselves in limbo for the past two and a half years. They will now be able to complete their certificates and be provided with a currency they can use at home or abroad. There are thousands more people like this. If we can do this on such a scale with an injection of €450 million, the Deputy should think of what could have been done if we were not obliged to follow through on the promissory note signed by his Government of €3 billion every year for the next ten years for Anglo Irish Bank.

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