Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I tabled this question because the unemployment situation is, without question, the most important issue facing the Irish people. The domestic economy is extremely flat and it is calling out for fresh initiatives and new ideas on how new opportunities can be created for people who are unemployed and for the many young people coming out of the colleges. The House has just discussed the temporary agency directive, which is critical for employment creation and for employment retention. I am concerned at the lack of urgency and also at the lack of public debate with regard to this issue. I note the Taoiseach has indicated he will give consideration to such a debate.

The jobs initiative has proved to be a damp squib in its impact. I ask the Taoiseach to indicate whether at the meetings he has attended he has considered a review of the initiative and in particular a review of the pension levy which was a raid on pensioners, supposedly to fund job creation. We have learned from parliamentary questions and replies to same that the funds raised from the pensioners has not been used for job creation at all and that a large bulk of it has remained, essentially, unspent on job creation projects.

There is a dearth of any fresh or radical approach to job creation. Despite the number of Cabinet sub-committee meetings and official meetings attended by the Taoiseach, there seems to be little in the way of real substantive initiatives for job creation.

The Taoiseach referred earlier to the capital programme which has been cut back by €750 million. This will result in thousands of jobs being lost which otherwise would have been created if he had looked differently at how he would meet the fiscal adjustment target of 8.6% of GDP. He has gone for what I would call the soft options politically. It is clear there are tensions within the Cabinet about the most basic of issues and that there is no agreement about a budgetary framework to meet the targets.

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