Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

After the Taoiseach read out that impressive list of his achievements over the past two years, one would almost think it was heaven and bliss out there for the vast majority of people such was his stunning success in dealing with the crisis faced by ordinary people. However, the truth is far from that, as well he knows. When he is asked about the major issues facing ordinary people, particularly unemployment and the crushing effect of austerity, he very often reads out the same list of things the Government is doing for people. One can only conclude or assume from the way he responds to these things that he believes the people out there do not really understand what a wonderful job he is doing. I suggest that this is not the case and that the people outside understand very well what is going on and that two years after this Government was elected, it has not delivered the things people expected it to deliver in a national emergency that has not abated one iota.

The Taoiseach knows what the key issue is because "Get Ireland working" was emblazoned on every Fine Gael poster in every town and village across the country. That was the promise he made and everybody knew that this was what needed to be done. Instead, the Government has slashed 30,000 public sector jobs and imposed crushing austerity that has destroyed thousands of small and medium enterprises and led to tens of thousands of educated and talented young people who want to work leaving this country. The unemployment figures would be catastrophic were it not for the escape valve of emigration. Is emigration the Government's jobs policy? Is it the Government's policy to force people out of the country because that is the only thing making any difference to the job figures? They would be higher now than they were when the Government came into office were it not for the tens of thousands who have left. What people want to know is whether the Taoiseach will recognise that he has failed to deliver on the promise to make a significant dent in the catastrophic unemployment figures that are blighting the lives of 430,000 families and crippling our economy. Is it not the case that unless the Government deals with that crisis in a serious way, we will be in a dreadful state for some time to come?

The Taoiseach is engaged in the classic manipulation of figures and facts when he lists off 5,000 jobs here and 500 or 10 million there but does not give the other side of the equation. The simple fact is that unemployment was 14% when the Government came into office and it is still 14%. According to the projections we get from the troika, the Fiscal Advisory Council and the Department of Finance, if all the Government's plans work out as well as possible, unemployment will be 13.6% in three years time. The best we can look forward to with the Government's jobs plan is a reduction of 0.5% or 0.6% in the unemployment rate. Is that what the Taoiseach is offering people? If it is, because this is what the Department of Finance and troika forecast, we are looking at well in excess of 400,000 people unemployed even after we exit the troika programme in three years time. Surely the Taoiseach can offer us something better than that?

Where is the strategic investment bank that was in the programme for Government and was going to deliver 100,000 jobs? Where is the massive scheme of insulation of public buildings that could save the money the Government is trying to take from low and middle-income workers without attacking their wages? The Government could put construction workers who are on the dole back at work insulating public buildings and saving energy costs. Where is that programme? Where are the tens of thousands of jobs that could be created if he did that? It has not happened.

Has the Taoiseach forced the banks to start lending money into the economy? He has not. He puts up his hands and says, "We are not very happy with the banks and what they do" but nothing actually changes.

The Taoiseach announced seven new research centres. However, what he does not say is that the research budget for Science Foundation Ireland is lower this year than it was last year. The money will now be spread over these seven new centres and the existing ones which has relied on this funding. Many research centres will have less money next year than they had in previous years. The Taoiseach is manipulating the facts. I ask him to say what his plan is to get the 400,000 people unemployed - not a few hundred jobs here or a few training places there - back to work. What is the timescale? When can we expect these 400,000 or even 300,000 of them who want to work back at work?

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