Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the jobs initiative. To pick up on what the last speaker said, what the country needs is a Government which will do what it states it will do and fulfils its election promises. That is what the Government is doing. It is following through on initiatives talked about during the election campaign and commitments made at the time. It is a step in the right direction to try to restore some credibility in what the Government does and what it plans to do. We also need to restore some faith in politics which has been damaged in recent years. We campaigned to achieve these things and will do them.

It has been said the jobs initiative is not enough. Of course, it is not enough. We know that; it is a small step in the right direction to restore confidence midway through a budget year. We cannot perform magic overnight. However, we can put things in place and start moving in the right direction in order that in the next couple of budgets we can start to deal with the situation we are in. Unemployment is a massive problem that is causing great social and financial stress for everyone. We will tackle it with the help of everyone here. Everybody has ideas, but we have to be practical. Nobody can fix the problem overnight. It will take time. We will bring forward some initiatives that we hope will kick-start the economy.

The reduction in the rate of VAT on tourism services will lead to the creation of jobs. It will kick-start things by making us more competitive. It will give us a chance to do more business and create jobs.

With regard to the funding being made available for shovel-ready projects such as schools and roads, the aim is to provide money for projects that will create employment and also be of benefit to the people. The roads are in a mess in many places and schools need to be done up. We are trying to solve two problems with the same budget. It is about using our imagination, but it is also about taking action.

Others speakers have been complaining about the embargo on recruitment in the public sector. We have no doubt it is causing problems because it is not functioning properly. We want to try to bring the numbers in the public sector down by around 25,000 while protecting front-line services. That did not happen with previous Governments and it is something we will be working on in the next three or four years. It is essential that we reduce the cost of governing the country and that means reducing the number employed by it. From 2001 to 2008, when Bertie went on his spending spree, he was throwing money left, right and centre. What he and his Government did, in allocating money that would not be available in the future and taking on an extra 70,000 workers in the public sector, was not sustainable. We would love to keep all the people concerned, but it is not practical. The country cannot afford it. We must cut our coat according to our cloth. That is what we are doing and it will be done in a proper and organised way while protecting services.

In this initiative we have introduced a partial loan guarantee scheme through which we will get money out to businesses. We know this has to be done. We have taken the first step, which is to make sure the banks have money to give to businesses. They have been capitalised sufficiently to allow €30 billion of credit in the next three years. The next step is to make sure the money gets out. We know it is not enough to say it is available; we must deliver it. That is why the partial loan guarantee is a step in the right direction. We will take other initiatives in the next few months and years to make sure the money gets out to businesses which need it. They need it to provide services but also to create jobs. That is what the scheme is about.

There are many other things about which I could talk, but I cannot cover them all in three minutes. This is a good initiative. It is about taking action as a first step.

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