Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a pity that Sinn Féin is so hostile to jobs for people who are unemployed. I sometimes think Sinn Féin seems to have a vested interest in keeping the maximum amount of people parked on the live register without any opportunity to progress, be it in education, training or work experience. It is an unfortunately short-sighted view that the Deputy and his party have taken. It makes me wonder what plans, if any, Sinn Féin has ever brought forward for serious employment creation in this country.

I wish the Deputy had been with me a couple of weeks ago when I was at a function hosted by the Crafts Council of Ireland. It is a very reputable body and I am sure Sinn Féin would approve of it, and its aims are to foster crafts and creativity in this country. Its members are small-scale employers of people - often just one or two - who are craft workers and who produce very beautiful work in many cases.

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