Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak against the Sinn Féin motion and in favour of the Government amendment which expresses confidence in the Government as it deals with the current economic crisis. This is a good Government. As the Minister, Deputy Howlin, noted, it is a Government of national unity and is, therefore, unprecedented. For the first time in the history of the State, the two largest parties in the Dáil have come together to form a Government. The main party on the centre right and the main party on the centre left have come together to form a Government. That is not a normal thing to happen in a democracy but we do not live in normal times. We live in very difficult times and we are doing what is necessary. In coming together the two parties have given political stability to the country through to 2016. We have provided a strong enough majority in this House and the other House to make the necessary changes. It may be the case that along the way we lose some people, but we need to be in a position to be able to do that. We cannot have a Government dependent on a few Independents or in a minority position.

I acknowledge that we have made mistakes and that change has come too slowly, which frustrates people. I too am frustrated that this has been the case. Times are tough. Far too many people are out of work, far too many individuals and families are struggling to make ends meet and the burden on business is great, with many forced to close. However, when one considers what this Government inherited, it has made enormous progress in the past two years. The target set in respect of the budget deficit was 8.6% of GDP. We are beating that target, coming in at 8.2% and the deficit next year will be lower. I acknowledge it is still a huge deficit and that it is worse than that of Greece but we are at last for once moving in the right direction.

Unemployment has fallen to 14.6% and has now stabilised. The most recent quarterly national household survey indicates that for the first time since 2005, bearing in mind unemployment started to rise long before the recession occurred, the number of people unemployed is decreasing. This is not only because of emigration. We know from the same statistics that employment is increasing again for the first time, in particular in the private sector. While people will say that there are 26,000 fewer people in employment today than were in employment a year ago, this is because of the Government's policy of reducing the number of people in the public service.

See this speech in context