Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is missing the point. As I stated in my reply, we created 60,000 jobs. The live register came down by 60,000 in two years and 40,000 or two thirds of those people were long-term unemployed so the long-term unemployed are not people who do not respond to market opportunities. We are seeing a very significant reduction in the number of long-term unemployed people who are getting real jobs in the economy. Of course, we recognise the need for other measures for people who find it difficult which is why MOMENTUM, which is a part on-the-job and part off-the-job programme, was introduced. It is the reason why Gateway, which gives opportunities in local authorities, has been introduced and the reason why Tús has been expanded very substantially by the Minister for Social Protection. All of these programmes are targeted at people who are long-term unemployed but our objective is to get people back into the market economy.

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