Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The measure of the Government's performance in job creation is not the grade it gives itself, it is the results. The results at the moment are 14% unemployment. No one in this House is happy with that level of unemployment but I find it difficult to believe that the Government has yet to consider the strategic investment fund and the use of the National Pensions Reserve Fund money to invest in the economy. It was announced in 2011 that such a fund would be established to channel commercial investment from the pension fund into productive sectors of the economy. If the Taoiseach acknowledges that unemployment is the number one crisis in the country, why is that not being matched with action, not an action plan document, but action people can see in their communities? Since September 2011, we still have not seen the legislation to permit that investment. There has been a 27% reduction in capital investment in the economy in the first three months of the year. The Taoiseach must back up his words with action. People want to see money used appropriately, being invested in the economy and creating jobs, bringing about the recovery we all want to see. When is that legislation going to be passed and when will we begin to see that investment filtering throughout the economy?

See this speech in context