Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That was a good rant in two minutes. The Deputy conducted a fine analysis of her version of neoliberal capitalism. Does she think no one over here recognises the scale of the challenge for Europe, where 26 million people are unemployed? Has she not heard me say on many occasions that no leader in Europe could be proud of this situation? That is why the Irish Presidency shoved these major files across the line into reality. Some €960 billion is being provided by European taxpayers in the next seven years. Between €6 billion and €8 billion will be spent on tackling youth employment. The money will be front-loaded for the first two years and there is agreement on flexibility in reviewing the economic circumstances from 2016 and 2017. It is a fact of life that the unemployment rate among young people is at 60% in Greece and 57% in Spain, with varying figures in other locations. This is the big challenge. Next week I will be calling a special meeting of the Cabinet to deal with the specific issue of job creation. If we do not deal with that challenge, we will not be able to continue on our current path towards meeting our target of reducing the deficit below 3% by 2015. I have most of the ESRI's report. It endorses the Government's programme and states we must continue to achieve our exit from the bailout programme, bring about growth and investment, create jobs and meet our targets by 2015. The challenge for the Government is getting the balance right. Last Monday I visited Waterford with the Minister for Social Protection, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to deal with one small element of an initiative. The Government has listened to employers who say the tax credit system for employing people from the live register is too cumbersome and full of red tape. We abandoned that system and those who now take on people who have been out of work for 12 months or more will get a direct cash injection of €7,500 and, in respect of people unemployed for two years, a direct cash injection of €10,000.

This affects their cash flow, to their benefit, and reduces numbers on the live register. It also means that those on the live register are seen as a resource, not just as a list of people who draw other taxpayers' money in social welfare benefits. This is an expression of their motivation. If the Deputy wishes to prove the point, let her go and speak to the directors in HiTech which recruited some 60% of 400 employees off the live register because it is a resource of people with competence, ambition, motivation and experience.

Of course, many countries in Europe are in difficulty. That is why we were able to broker negotiations with the United States, why we brokered the negotiations now started with Japan and why we hope to conclude the trade negotiations with Canada. That is also why the decision taken at European Council and Presidency level during the Irish Presidency has greatly enhanced the opportunity to deal with this issue, including the very complex and technical areas in which progress has been made under the chairmanship of the Minister for Finance in respect of VAT issues.

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