Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to think the Deputy might come up with an initiative like the living city initiative, for places like Dún Laoghaire with older houses in need of reconstruction, that would provide employment. The Deputy makes a point that is a red herring about us wanting to keep people on the dole and I understand him doing that.

When Fine Gael had its annual think-in, I was speaking to a young woman working in the hotel who told me that there were ten people from her village in Spain working in the same locality as her in Ireland. She said there was nobody of her age left in her village because they had all emigrated. Nobody wants to see people leave our country. In my county, there is not a household without a family member in other lands because of emigration. There is no subtext for having some sort of pan-European flexibility, as the Deputy terms it, to drive people out of the country. It is a fact that when one goes to Munich now, there is a shortage of 150,000 workers. In Bavaria, there is a shortage of 200,000 workers now - engineers, technicians and trades people. There are signs outside the towns saying they need 100 mechanics or whatever.

Unfortunately, we are not in that position in Ireland. Until we get our economy into good shape and our public finances back in order, we cannot have that economy. We must take it step by step and that is the reason I believe it is important to have a business focus in the budget that engages with the social policy committee, through the Intreo offices. Deputy Boyd Barrett made the point that a young person needs access to the Internet. That is what happens in the Intreo offices. Young unemployed men and women who come to Intreo offices are interviewed individually and are also met in groups and access to information and the Internet is available to them.

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