Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not make this up. It is in the manifesto which formed the basis of Fine Gael's electoral mandate. Fine Gael promised an additional investment of €7 billion in energy, communications and water services to give Ireland a first-class infrastructure. I did not make up the promise to announce a jobs budget within the first 100 days of the Government coming to power. That was watered down to a jobs initiative. In February, after being in office for one year, the Government unveiled an action plan for jobs. The Taoiseach announced that the plan would help to create an additional 100,000 jobs. I welcome every job that has been created and envy the Taoiseach his great energy. However, while I welcome the successes, I remind the House that 33,000 jobs have been lost in the last year. Prior to the general election the Labour Party promised to create a jobs fund worth €500 million to support new ideas and create employment in strategic sectors of the economy. It also promised to establish a strategic investment bank with lending capacity of €2 billion from the National Pensions Reserve Fund. None of this happened. In September 2011 another strategic investment fund was unveiled which would draw from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to provide capital for small and medium enterprises. One year later the legislation for this fund has not even been published.

I acknowledge that the Government is in a difficult place, but we should not pretend we are all in the same boat or suffering equally. Few Deputies are suffering, comrades. Our constituents and citizens are suffering. Deputies who cry crocodile tears about the plight of working people are just displaying hypocrisy of the highest order if they then walk through the Government lobbies to vote for austerity measures and cuts. The Government is on the wrong track. I encourage it to consider the alternatives we have proposed because they cannot all be bad or wrong. Some of them might make sense. I urge it to overhaul its philosophy and reflect on the fact that it cannot cut its way out of a recession. The only way out is growth through investment in job creation. Stop putting our money into bad banks and invest it instead.

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