Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Government is setting out to get people back to work by ensuring that jobs are created. That is what we are doing. For the information of Deputy Higgins, this means we have to attract investment into the country and that investment would certainly not be attracted into this country if we were to pursue the idiotic economic policies the Deputy advocates we should pursue. We must have our economic situation managed in a way that attracts investment into the country, that restores confidence to the domestic economy and that grows jobs. That is the Government's strategy.

As Deputy Higgins and everybody will be aware, we have a very significant level of unemployment which is far too high with 440,000 people on the live register. We want to get that figure down. Everybody, bar Deputy Higgins, perhaps, realises that this cannot be achieved simply by waving a manifesto at it. Rather, it must be done over a period. People who are out of work, who have lost their jobs, and some of whom have been out of work for a some time, have real needs which need to be addressed. The Government does not intend to leave people who are unemployed aside without addressing their needs. This is the reason for our approach which is aimed at equipping them with new skills. People have different needs and they want to change career. There are budgets available to training and education bodies for all these areas. The Minister, Deputy Burton's budget for labour activation measures will be increased by about €100 million this year so that we can deal more effectively and fairly and appropriately with the needs of people who are unemployed. In case Deputy Higgins has any doubt about it, we will be clear about two issues: first, the Government's priority is creation of jobs, growing of our economy and getting people back to work; second, we wish to deal-----

See this speech in context