Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In case Deputy Ó Cuív has forgotten the large number of people who are out of work, the Government, as part of its jobs initiative, introduced a temporary levy on pensions of 0.6%, which is considerably less than the amount many companies are charging in administration costs. The companies in question are perfectly capable of absorbing the levy. The jobs initiative launched by the Government last May is working. As the Deputy will have noted from the live register figures published yesterday, we have had the biggest drop in unemployment in four years.

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