Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State did not take the good from what we are saying and did not accept it in the spirit in which it was delivered, which I regret.

As I am spokesman on social and family affairs, I wish to refer again to unemployment. While Senator McCarthy spoke about Dunmanway, Athlone is no different, and I am sure the Minister of State's area is no different either. The dole queues are getting longer. It is sad that we have lost our AAA rating and that we have the highest unemployment figures in the eurozone, which is scary considering we had an €8 billion surplus last year. Where has the money gone? What is happening to the Government? The Minister of State did not answer one question as to how the Government proposes to solve the problems. He only criticised what Fine Gael put forward.