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

The waters are muddied to a certain extent with regard to these figures and much of the truth is hidden. However, if one adds the numbers of people who are under-employed, on activation schemes and who have been forced to emigrate, the total amounts to approximately 334,000. If one then adds the number of people who are on the live register, one reaches a total of 662,000 people. Those 662,000 people are the collateral damage of this Government's economic policy with regard to jobs. That is a very large section of the population. It is approximately a quarter of the labour force in the State. I urge the Government, in the dying days of its term of office, to put down real competitive advantages. That means investing in roads and rail so people can move around the country or move products around it. It should invest in telecommunications and broadband, the transportation system and in education and health, which have been divested from massively by this Government. However, the Government's plan, according to the spring budget, is to reduce Government investment from 1.8% of GDP to 1.5%, which is the lowest rate in Europe. This Government's ambition is to have the lowest investment in Europe. It is considered that 4% is necessary just to maintain the capital stock from depreciation. How will we have competitive infrastructure in the State at that level of Government divestment?

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