Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

The Minister referred earlier to the maintenance of jobs and she obviously believes that this section is vitally important in that context. She is correct in one sense. If one walks down the high street in any town throughout the country, one will see that a significant number of long-standing businesses are either reducing their operations or are closing down.

The difficulty of matter does not relate to either the amount of PRSI or the wage rates which employers are obliged to pay. The real problem, which the section does not address, is the fact that this Government is continuing the process of job destruction begun by the previous Administration. This is being done by way of the removal of huge amounts of money from the economy. If someone walking down the high street in Clonmel or any other town does not have money in his or her pocket, then he or she cannot go into nearby shops to make purchases. That is the real reason long-standing businesses are closing down.

Approximately €14 billion has been removed from the economy in recent years. The policy in this regard is directly responsible for the destruction of jobs, the massive increase in the number of people who are unemployed and the high level of business closures. As long as the Government continues to remove money from the economy, to cut social welfare and reduce people's take home pay, what I have outlined will continue.

We all welcome the reversal in the cut to the minimum wage. However, the other side of the coin in this regard is the fact that there are proposals for huge cuts in respect of the 250,000 people who are employed in the sectors covered by joint labour committees, JLCs, and employment regulation orders, EROs. Again, what is proposed in this regard will remove further significant amounts of money from the economy and out of the pockets of individuals. As a result, there will be further job losses. Neither section 3 nor the programme for Government addresses that problem. Effectively, the current Administration is continuing with the policies pursued by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government.

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