Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is obvious, and has been stated time and again, that the programme of austerity is not working. It has resulted in the collapse of the domestic economy. Only one statistic is required to show the level of collapse, namely, the 25% fall in demand, which is the worst such fall in any EU economy since the Second World War. We see this in our communities and our local villages when places close down. The shops where people go to buy their bits and pieces every day of the week are closing. I came down Dame Street recently and saw that a well known Chinese restaurant had closed, leaving a vacant premises. I noticed today that another shop had closed, Peats of Dame Street.

People just do not have the money to buy goods. Where do we go from here?

The jobs initiative programme has been a complete failure. It is not having the required effect. A few speakers indicated that there has been an increase in the number of jobs being created. I welcome that development but I do not have the wherewithal to raise a fanfare in respect of the creation of 300 jobs by a company - the ethics of which I would question - that promotes gambling. We are not really dealing with the issue of creating jobs. Since the beginning of the year, some 33,000 fewer people are at work. This means that 1,200 fewer individuals are in employment each week. This is not the way to deal with the jobs issue. There must be an injection of capital to drive a programme of public works throughout the country. We are aware that the level of private investment has fallen by 67% in recent years. Some 60% of those without work are long-term unemployed and 30% of these are young people.

The Government's complacency in the face of the collapse of the economy and employment is staggering. A jobs initiative based on an investment of €2.2 billion over seven years is meaningless and will not solve our problems. Said initiative will not ensure that people return to work and neither will it lead to more money being invested in the economy. The Government's strategy in this regard is only going to lead to further economic collapse.

People have condemned public sector workers because they have permanent pensionable jobs. I was encouraged to join the post office in 1979 because it offered permanent pensionable employment. The thinking was that if I needed a loan from a bank in the future, the fact that I was in such employment stand me in good stead. Banks will not offer loans of any shape or form to people who have jobs where they might work 18 hours one week, five the next week and 20 the week after that. In such circumstances, having people in permanent pensionable jobs is good for the economy because this assists the process of individuals borrowing and paying back money, buying goods and services, etc. Unless the jobs that are being created are permanent ones with real wages attaching, they will not have an impact on the economy.

Reference was made to the Irish League of Credit Unions, ILCU. The latter is extremely important because it is in a position to highlight, by means of the surveys it carries out, the reality of the challenges people face on a daily basis. For example, almost 2 million adults have less than €25 to spend each week when they have paid their essential bills. This does not taken account of the fact that electricity, gas and food bills are all going to increase in the coming months. The recent bad weather experienced across the globe has had an adverse effect on the agricultural sector and this is going to lead to the increase in food prices to which I refer. As a result, inflation will increase and people will have even less money to spend each week. The ILCU has also highlighted the fact that this year there has been an increase of 28,000 in the number of adults have nothing left after their bills have been paid. In one of its surveys, the ILCU also points out that last year some 42% of adults were obliged to borrow money on at least one occasion in order to pay their bills.

During a briefing we had with the ILCU recently, we were informed that people are saving more and borrowing less. Only 42% of our credit unions' available funds are on loan. This is because people cannot access loans and are saving more money as a result. The ILCU also indicated that it has between €5 billion and €7 billion available in its funding system. If the Government were prepared to issue bonds, this money could be released and could be invested in social and job-creation initiatives in our communities. It could be used to finance schools building projects, support community projects, etc. In addition, some of the properties in NAMA's pool that are sitting idle could be given to communities and used to create jobs. Such a development would inject life into these communities.

Some €70 billion is held by Irish pension funds. It would not be beyond the bounds of imagination that these moneys could be freed up and used to remove people from the dole. The United Left Alliance will develop proposals in the coming period and put them forward in the form of a real jobs programme. We have put forward similar proposals on previous occasions. Action must be taken by the Government because we cannot wait for private investment. People are just not investing. The Government should not only be supporting private companies in creating jobs, it should also be creating employment itself. In the past, the Labour Party's philosophy would have included investing money in order to create jobs.

The type of necessary public works to which I refer include the replacement of all non-compliant water mains throughout the State, including connections to houses in order to ensure that pipes are laid below potential frost levels. During the property boom, such pipes were not laid at the correct depth. There should be a national rainwater harvesting programme and this should include all public buildings and infrastructure such as schools, public housing, Government buildings and motorways. I put forward a proposal to the effect that one of the schools in my area be allowed to avail of public funding in order to put in place an environmental system which would lead to its electricity, heating and other fuel costs being reduced.

Other public works would include the implementation of sustainable urban drainage throughout the State. In addition, there should be separation of all combined sewer systems in order to achieve separate foul-fluid and stormwater sewer systems. All flood relief schemes throughout the State should be completed. We could replace and upgrade all cesspits, septic tanks and percolation areas and prioritise connections to upgraded effluent treatment plants. In addition, we could accelerate the development of all planned effluent treatment plants and prepare and advance designs for treatment plants in all areas of high-density housing and areas outside urban centres. Wetland reed beds could be constructed on all farms which contain slurry pits or which discharge effluent into groundwater.

We should put in place works to construct a new road base and wearing course in order to ensure that all national secondary and county roads will have adequate base and surface layers to survive 25 years of the weather extremes experienced in recent years. We should retrofit all public buildings with insulation, while ensuring proper ventilation. Another initiative would be to ensure that works on public housing are completed estate by estate rather than individually. All public buildings and sites which are currently not in use should be upgraded, renovated or refurbished in order to provide public facilities such as public elder care, public child care, public playgrounds, heritage centres and museums. There should be no sell-off of any public properties. We should consider demolishing all unfit social housing and replacing it with environmentally-sustainable and aesthetically-pleasing alternatives.

We could train and employ 30,000 child care workers to provide high-quality public child care within a national child care infrastructure. This would fit very neatly with what the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, proposes to do in the context of reviewing the age limit relating to lone parents and would ensure that everyone could access proper child care. In light of the significant literacy and numeracy problems identified by the OECD, we could train and employ 10,000 adult education teachers in order to provide literacy, numeracy, computer applications and language courses to the long-term unemployed. The target in this regard would be to have the latter attain FETAC level 5 within five years in order to open their way to third level courses.

If it possessed the necessary will, there are many actions the Government could take in order to drive forward the type of initiatives to which I refer. We know that there is wealth in this country and that there is money available. Again, it all comes down to a question of choice. People cannot take any more austerity. Some 83,000 households are more than 90 days in arrears in respect of their mortgage repayments and the Government has stated its intention to introduce a property tax. What are the Labour Party and Fine Gael doing? They are putting the banks first and citizens second. The position in this regard must be reversed and the Government much change its social and economic tack. If we do not take the kind of actions to which I refer and if we do not change our political direction, then we will be obliged to endure ten or 20 years of depression and recession in Ireland and across Europe.

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