Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some 176,000 people have emigrated on the Taoiseach's watch. Sixty percent of the unemployed are now categorised as long-term unemployed. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is fond of saying that the Government does not create jobs. That is one thing we know for sure - it definitely does not. We are in a jobs crisis and the Government's official response has been to hold press conferences and issue glossy reports.

Today, the Government announced what it calls a €500 million stimulus. I welcome the extension of the 9% VAT rate, which we had called for. However, there is no sense in increasing the pensions levy to 0.75%, which will be done from 2014. I am also pleased to hear the announcement of several other measures, including an increase in the VAT accounting threshold, for which we had also called. However, an investment of €500 million is a drop in the ocean when we face a crisis of such magnitude in regard to jobs. Let us be honest. It comes on top of many undelivered commitments from the Taoiseach and his colleagues. They are serial announcers but they always choke on delivery.

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