Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On Friday two non-Government Deputies will propose legislation, which will be rejected by Ministers in prepared speeches. The Government will add this week to the list of meetings of the Dáil and declare that in year three of the democratic revolution we are doing more work than ever.

This debate is a transparent political sham. Nothing will change because of anything that is said here over the next three days. This sort of so-called debate goes a long way towards explaining why the Government has been so unpopular for so long. While the Taoiseach and his Ministers were busy telling journalists at the weekend that they are unpopular because they have taken tough decisions, the undeniable fact is that they became unpopular well before they took any real decisions, let alone tough ones. This is a Government that waited more than two and a half years before it published any economic plans. Its defining policy has been to follow events and jump on things for which it might be able to claim credit. How else to explain a Government that claims credit for budget changes it voted against and interest rate reductions it did not ask for?

The Taoiseach said at the weekend, and again today, that creating jobs is the absolute priority. No one can disagree with this, but we can disagree with the Government's spin about what is happening in the jobs market. In recent weeks the Taoiseach has said the Government intends to "deliver 100,000 jobs". According to speech after speech at Fine Gael's conference, employment growth in the economy is down purely to the Government. This is both deeply cynical and wrong. The growth in employment has nothing whatsoever to do with Government employment policy; in fact, all of the evidence indicates that Government policy has continued to be a drag on employment. The Government does not create jobs when it takes millions of euro out of pension funds that invest in Irish businesses. The Government does not create jobs when it cuts local enterprise supports.

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