Dáil debates

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

4:00 pm

Photo of Enda KennyEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

There are 23,000 on community employment schemes and there are 1,400 supervisors for those schemes. What Mr. Krugman was referring to is what the Government is seeking to do, namely, making the changes that will allow for credit to flow to business in order that the latter might create jobs. People will then be able to work and live in their own communities and the economy will grow. The Chinese Vice President visited Ireland to discuss opportunities for Irish companies. If Deputy Higgins had bothered to be present at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham yesterday and had spoken to some of the companies represented there which want to export goods, create jobs and grow the economy, he might have learned a thing or two about reality.

We all appreciate the stress and pressure with which those in financial difficulty must contend. However, the situation of these people will never change unless the economy expands. That is why the Government is making decisions in respect of jobs and bringing forward proposals designed to open the doors of business in order that Ireland might export more goods, generate further income and create additional jobs. That is where the future lies. If Deputy Higgins does not want to recognise this, and wants to wallow in the mists of disillusionment from which he emerges very occasionally, I might say we have a very different view over here. We will do everything we can as a Government to provide opportunities for many thousands more young people like those who go to work every day in the constituency of Deputy Higgins, and are very grateful to do so and do a wonderful job. There will be a parallel 1,000 jobs in Dundalk. Deputy Higgins cannot even recognise that this in itself is a step in the right direction. We have many more thousands to employ and much work to do but the type of suggestions Deputy Higgins makes certainly do not help.

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