Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too pay tribute to the late Nicky McFadden. She was a hugely popular Deputy, both in Leinster House and her constituency. She battled tirelessly for her local community. When she faced adversity, she inspired many, both in the House and her home. On behalf of my party, I offer sympathy to her family.

The Tánaiste referenced the state of the economy but he got his figures wrong yet again. The number of jobs in the State increased by 70,000 over the past year but the net increase in jobs since the Government took office has been 30,000, given 250,000 people have emigrated. This demonstrates a minuscule response to a colossal problem. The Library and Research Service conducted an interesting investigation. It examined the plethora of activation schemes, many of which are hokey, that have been devised by the Government. According to the service, 3% of the working age population is on activation schemes, which is higher than the net increase in jobs. The real unemployment rate after three years of the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government is 22.7% when the number of emigrants, the number unemployed and the number of people on activation schemes without jobs are added together.

The long-term unemployment figures are stubbornly high while the number of young people in the State has shrunk because of the emigration rate. There has also been an onslaught of family taxes. I am canvassing door-to-door like many Members and I have met people who have to make a decision on whether to send one child to a doctor or one child to a dentist or whether they should go without a meal in order that their child can have a meal or whether they should go the local petrol station with a 5 gallon drum because they cannot fill the tank of the car. The people who face these purchasing choices have been landed with more than €500 in taxes annually. This includes the property tax, water charges and cuts in child benefit. The provision of a universal health insurance tax in the future will only add to that.

The ESRI analysed the Government's budgets. The institute said they were regressive and have affected low and middle income earners much more than higher earners. The three-year scorecard for the Government is simple to write. We are still in a state of jobs inertia and the burden of adjustment has been put on the shoulders of those who can least afford it.

The provision of services is a key component of government activity. The Government almost pays as much in interest on the national debt as it does on the education system. Budgets in a number of areas in the education system have been slashed. The Government then talks about a smart economy when it is not providing appropriate funding for education. A total of €4 billion and 12,500 staff have been taken out of health services, which resulted in 57 people lying on trolleys on one day in the hospital in Drogheda, ongoing increased pressure on Dublin hospitals and the closure of accident and emergency departments in Nenagh and Navan hospitals. This is the result of the actions and votes of a Fine Gael-Labour Party Government.

The alternative to this is an economy based on progressive policies such as those in Sweden and Denmark where taxes are paid but services are also provided. Such an economy is wealthy but it is also competitive. That is the type of economy we in Sinn Féin want to see. That is why we ask people when considering the candidates in the by-elections to vote for Paul Donnelly in Dublin West, a neighbouring constituency of mine. He has been to the fore in the hospital campaign in the constituency. He has also been to the fore on the Blanchardstown local drugs task force and Blakestown-Mountview Neighbourhood Youth Project and he has been to the fore in fighting austerity.

Paul Hogan will stand for our party in Longford-Westmeath, another constituency abutting mine. I have known him for years. He is one of the most experienced candidates in that by-election. He has been mayor and deputy mayor of Athlone a number of times and he has worked with determination to give a progressive voice to an area that was traditionally a Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil stronghold. People have a clear option. They can vote for the people who brought them to the disaster or those who have kept them in the disaster or they can vote for an alternative that has a basis in Nordic countries, which works significantly well. They will help our team to progress the economic policies that we have been developing over the past number of years, which have gained enormous traction with the electorate, as we can see in the opinion polls.

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