Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I would love an hour to talk about the plan because it is the most important thing that has come before the House. I like the idea that the Government will do something about competition and rates. I cannot welcome the plan because it is a plan to fail. Even if the Government succeeds and no jobs were lost in the meantime, there will still be 350,000 people unemployed in this country in four years time. What is the plan for them?

If it does not have a plan, can it kindly tell the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, to stop goading people who were on the dole, accusing them of being useless and telling them they should be ashamed of themselves and should be looking for jobs? There are no jobs out there. The Government has admitted that in four years time there will not be jobs for 350,000 people. It should kindly treat people on the basis that it will not find them a job and not make them feel bad for having to rely on social welfare.

One important element in creating jobs is that the skills are available to fill them. An important part of doing that is having guidance counsellors in schools to guide people along a certain path. I have been told guidance counsellors are gone and it is up to principals to allocate resources. We are told we have to face reality, that the country has no money and that we have to do this. It is the equivalent of cutting down all the signposts in Dublin and selling them for scrap to pay off the national debt, but not taking into account the fact that no tourist will know where to go.

I agree we have to become more competitive but I do not think the Government wants to. When we discussed the competition Bill it was made quite clear that no matter what provisions were included if they were not funded they would not have any effect. I said the Government could include the death penalty for a person and his or her family for not following competition law, but the reality is that if there are only two gardaí in the country, the same number as in a village about five miles from my town, it will not succeed. If the Government wants competition to work it has to fund it. We were told the amount of money available would be limited. If that is the case the Government is not very dedicated.

I agree that rates should be reduced. How will the Government make that happen? It will not make it happen under the current local government system. I have personal experience of hell from my six years in Roscommon County Council. I thought I was in heaven the day I became mayor - I would be able to drive down rates, sit in at budget meetings and find bits and pieces that could be saved. We did not get all the information we looked for. We were given a document with emotional phrases to the effect that if rates were cut the pool or library would be gone, which might not go down well with constituents. When we looked for further information I found there was no power. Local government is a joke in Ireland.

The Government wants to save money, make the country more competitive and reduce rates. The mayor of Roscommon was refused access to figures because there is no democracy at local government level. Rates could be reduced if there were directly elected mayors in Roscommon and Leitrim. I would find a way to cut rates without cutting services. Why can we not be given that power? It would go a long way towards making this country more competitive.

We cannot have a situation where the Government says it will reduce rates while at the same time the person who is has the opportunity to reduce them is told by a director of finance he or she will leave if any more information is sought. The Government should change that and do something about funding competition, and then I will believe what it is saying. Otherwise, like my family before me where 19 out of 20 of us had to go to London, my children will have to do the same and I will not sit idly by and watch that happen.

See this speech in context