Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputies Gerard Nash and Arthur Spring.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on Second Stage of this Bill. I listened with patience and attention to the previous speaker. While I will not agree with all her arguments, I can agree with her remark that it is most important to create the economic climate for the generation of jobs. This Bill will help in this regard. I note that yesterday the stability treaty was debated and passed in the lower house of the French Parliament. The treaty will now be considered in the French senate where it is expected to be passed by the end of the week. It is expected that these rules will be in place across the eurozone from next January. This is another example of how Europe is trying to get its act together to work in unison to get out of the economic mess and to get people back to work.

I was the Labour Party deputy director of elections in the recent referendum on the treaty. I participated in many radio interviews about the financial and fiscal rules to explain what they would mean for Ireland and for the eurozone. I do not wish to rehearse those arguments, many of which I had with the previous speaker on various radio and television programmes. Stability was the key word during the campaign. These rules will bring much needed stability to the eurozone and this in turn will bring growth in the domestic economy. Ireland has an open economy and we need the support of a thriving eurozone. These rules will go some way to fixing the economic mess but social responsibilities must be considered. The level of youth unemployment is far too high at around 30% in this country and the figure is much higher in Spain and Portugal, with 50% of the youth population unemployed in some countries. If we are unable to address this issue it will damage our long-term future. We cannot have young people leaving school with no prospects for training or employment. We cannot allow them to drift into long-term unemployment thus harming their self-confidence and their future employment prospects. The long-term impact of unemployment on communities is very difficult and areas of high unemployment become far too dependent on the State for support.

During the referendum campaign in April and May, I talked to people in County Meath, many of whom told me they would not vote for the treaty nor agree to enshrine those rules into legislation. A total of 40% of the national electorate did not vote for the treaty. They were unsure about voting for the treaty because they could not see how the treaty would create economic growth. Those people who did not vote for the treaty need to know that we are championing economic development and growth at every level in the European Union. We need to communicate this clearly to the people. The current direction of Europe is also causing uncertainty because change will be constant over the next few years and it is important to have the confidence of the people as European reforms are introduced.

I will speak at a conference in Brussels tomorrow on the future of Europe. Diplomats, academics and politicians will be in attendance to discuss the future of Europe. We need to have this conversation in Ireland. The Labour Party is currently engaging with its members to find out their views on issues such as political, fiscal and economic union and their views on European social issues. We must ensure that any changes to our relationship with Europe are widely communicated and discussed with our citizens.

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