Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I apologise for my late arrival in the Chamber. I note the Minister's response but the figures are pretty damning. The recent official statistics which, if anything, understate the case, point to a level of unemployment which is the highest in 20 years. They also indicate that half those people who are now unemployed have been unemployed for a year or more and one third are unemployed for two or more years. In addition, there is plenty of evidence that thousands of young people are hiding out in the education system and the Government has increased the number of people on training schemes - which I welcome but it does tend to massage the unemployment figures. The Minister will be aware of the remarks issued by ISME after the recent CSO figures. ISME described the Government's employment strategy as a shambles. He will be aware of the remarks from ICTU which said it is now time for the Government to start tackling the unemployment problem. He will be aware of the remarks of the Chambers of Commerce Ireland which described the situation as a crisis.

We have had the jobs budget, the jobs initiative, the 273 proposals in the jobs action plan but the figures do not lie. In view of the stark situation and in view of the comments from people across the board from one spectrum of society to another who are all uniformly critical of the Government's performance to date, will the Minister accept that his strategies are not working and it is time to try some new ones?

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