Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Why does Cork have twice the national average rate of unemployment? Is it because Government has not provided the necessary infrastructure to entice business to Cork or because the Government has not provided funding for the eastern gateway bridge to regenerate the Cork docklands? Is it the fact that Cork Airport is saddled with debt and the Government has failed to appoint a chairman to the Cork Airport Authority? These are pertinent questions that have not been addressed.

In one of her stirring contributions on the Order of Business some days ago, Senator Mary White referred to the cost of doing business. The Minister of State made numerous references to the same issue. We must address it.

The graph shows a spiralling increase under this Government in the past three years and especially in the past three months. I listened in my office to the speech of the Minister of State. Some of it sounded good and read well but there was nothing new, as Senator Alex White stated. There was no new policy statement, roadmap or new direction. There was much rhetoric. In the first few lines of his speech the Minister of State said: "The recent increase in the numbers on the live register is an unwelcome illustration of the challenge that lies ahead in steering the economy through what are undoubtedly challenging times." This is true but we cannot blame foreign events for the mismanagement of our economy. We fuelled the boom in the construction industry. As a consequence, many of the migrant workers have gone home or to London or wherever and our people have been left behind on the unemployment scrapheap. Will they be consigned to that? I hope not.

As a director of adult education in my previous incarnation, the Minister of State will get no argument from me because I fully subscribe to education, upskilling and retraining. From experience, however, much of it is happening without co-ordination or joined-up thinking. Many of those involved work alone. I hope the Government prioritises retraining and upskilling in the next 12 months.

As the Minister of State knows, the area of Cork city and county has lost many jobs in the electronic assembly sector. What plans have been made to tackle that?

I do not wish to jump on the anti-FÁS bandwagon because it serves no one well. Mistakes have been made by FÁS, which everyone recognises. Through the community employment scheme, however, FÁS has provided the opportunity to engage in worthwhile and, as Senator Carty said, valuable practices. Under the Ministers, Deputies Martin and Harney, there has been a rowing back of this and a reinvention of FÁS schemes. Now, trying to keep people on such schemes is like trying to get through to the Vatican, so to speak, unless I talk to someone such as the Minister of State. We must be serious about community employment because it is a valuable asset to the community. In a time of recession, we should enhance it and not take people off such schemes and put them on jobseeker's allowance or whatever.

I agree with Senator Boyle's reference to flexible working patterns. In the context of the fact that Ireland has become very expensive to do business in — the Minister of State may be right in saying we should not talk down Ireland but the reality is that we are where we are at — I agree also with Senator Bradford that we should build bridges with countries we can have links with. I am not referring in that context to Governor Palin's bridges to nowhere.

I ask the Minister of State to prioritise lifelong learning. There are great models from which we can learn. At UCC, Dr. Máirtín Ó Fathaigh demystified lifelong learning and brought it to the heartland of rural Ireland and the suburbs in Munster. If we do the same, we will be on the right track.

I ask the Minister of State to address the matter of FÁS and the speed with which it responds to situations, as referred to by Senator Carty. Members on all sides may be concerned at the way FÁS handles that specific issue. It is worrying that two thirds of new claimants were men and that a quarter were under 25. We cannot blame outside forces for the cost of doing business here. The rise in youth unemployment is worrying and I ask the Minister of State to address this.