Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I can imagine if the Minister, Deputy Burton, had been in opposition, she would have brought an orchestra in to accompany her wails of distress for the pensioners who are being scarified by the Government.

Did the Taoiseach not see just down the road from him at Knock Airport after Christmas the heartbreak these policies are causing, with young people leaving? Is it not clear to him that this is a disastrous policy for jobs; that it is slaughtering them? Has the Taoiseach heard there will be a shocking announcement of more job losses from a financial institution in a short period? How can he say his policies have enjoyed any success when there are still 440,000 people unemployed, a half of whom are long-term unemployed who have been out of work for more than a year? In two weeks time, will the Taoiseach not pay €1.25 billion to Anglo bond holders for private gambles and put the money instead into investment of jobs, creating tens of thousands of jobs in public infrastructure projects that would revive and regenerate the economy? That is the only way we will come out of this morass.

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