Michael McCarthy (Labour)

People's frustration and anger manifested itself on Friday last. It was a fantastic day, not least for the Labour Party but also for its Leader, Deputy Gilmore. The Labour Party had three MEPs elected and won a record number of seats on local authorities throughout the country.

Let us not forget the reason people voted against the Government. People are literally on the edge and jobs are being lost at a terrifying rate. For example, in February 28,000 jobs were lost. In other words, 1,000 jobs were lost each day of that month. There are those who are in employment who may be out of work by Christmas. People are paying income and health levies. There are homes in which low-paid public servants are paying these levies plus the pension levy.

It is dishonest of the Government to use the term "pension levy". After the budget last year, I stated that the pension levy is a tax. The only reason it is referred to as a levy is that it is not possible to introduce taxes between budgets. There are part-time firefighters employed by the western division of Cork County Council who are paying a pension levy but who will never receive a pension. There are cleaners who work in schools in my area and, I am sure, in those represented by Members on the Government benches who are paying the pension levy. These people are paying money into a scheme which does not exist and are being levied in respect of a pension they will never receive. There is a great deal of frustration regarding the unfairness at the heart of the pension levy scheme.

Last year the Government tried to take medical cards away from those who are over 70 years of age. The move to extend medical cards to everyone over 70 in the 2001 budget introduced by Mr. Charlie McCreevy was clearly designed to win popular support in the subsequent general election and, from a political point of view, that move was a success. When the Government realised it had to make savings and cut costs, it went straight back to vulnerable people who existed on State pensions and small occupational pensions. This caused a major amount of disquiet. There was a rowback or a turnaround but if one was 70 years of age with a State pension and a small occupational pension there was real fear. That affected all sections of the political classes, those who had been giving support to the Government for years. That frightened people. People had real fear when they sat down and figured out they would have to give €50 of their weekly budget to the doctor.

I refer to the manner in which the banks were recapitalised and bailed out, a measure my party opposed. It was quite unfair. There was a sense of unfairness at the heart of these decisions, that bankers could be bailed out and recapitalised irrespective of the merit in it at the time, when viewed by people who were losing money left, right and centre. Families depending on the early child care supplement will no longer receive that.

One of the more worrying aspects of the economic downturn, to which Senator Twomey referred, is the appalling vista of the long-term unemployed. We do not want to return to the situation in the 1980s, where huge amounts of people were unemployed. The only option for those leaving second and third level institutions was to emigrate. That option no longer exists because of the global downturn. We must ensure there are adequate structures to deal with the unemployment problem and that we do not return to the situation in the 1980s, where there were frightening levels of unemployment. According to the economic indicators of the ESRI, we are likely to exceed those by the end of the year.

I refer to the electoral register in the context of the local and European elections. In Cork South-West it is very accurate because there is an extremely diligent franchise officer, who gives 100% to the position. A candidate for Cork County Council, who has since been elected, presented himself to the polling station on polling day and was not on the register. He was registered to vote in a different electoral area, at an address at which he never lived. How can this happen? This man was already a member of a town council. In some context, such as the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, we need to approach this matter in a constructive manner to ensure the electoral register is accurate. It is anti-democratic folly to have people removed from the electoral register. I can accept it if someone changes address or turns 18 years of age soon before an election, but in this case an elected practitioner of local government presented at the local polling station. What if that candidate had lost by one or two votes? This is a serious situation. We need a separate debate on the franchise of local government and the electoral register.

We need a response from the Minister for Education and Science on the supports that exist or do not for those recently unemployed and graduates who are well qualified but can find no positions for which they can apply. Can the Government indicate the schemes it intends to roll out to provide some assistance to graduates who have already completed a primary qualification and need to go back to workplace? Perhaps they need to weather the economic storm by upskilling. It makes economic sense to give financial assistance to someone who is adding to qualifications as opposed to giving social welfare payments, rent allowance and a medical card. Surely the economic thinking must be black and white. We should invest that support in someone who wants to get off the live register and go back to a third level institution. Now is the time to do it. We must reconfigure the back to education allowances and the schemes that provide someone with the financial means by which the person can upskill and return to the workforce when the upturn comes. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later.

A number of factors, national and local, affect why people were successful in these elections. The issue of fisheries affects the coastal communities around the country. I raised this matter on the Order of Business on Tuesday. I and those in the fishing industry believe it is one of the areas of activity by which we can reboot coastal economies and create employment if the proper mechanisms are in place. The fisheries legislation passed by the Houses was draconian and we must examine that area. We must relax the harsh restrictions.

Two weeks ago in west Cork, fishermen were out for ten days and when they came back they had failed to complete a log entry. The sea fisheries protection officer boarded the vessel, seized the equipment and the catch and one individual must appear before a Circuit Court judge because of a missing entry in a log book. That is preposterous. Off the coast of Donegal, a trawler picked up drugs. The crew contacted Killybegs and told the Garda Síochána it would drop the drugs back if it could return to area 7 and fish, which was the intention in the first place. The trawler returned and sea fisheries protection officers were there before the Garda Síochána and the Naval Service and boarded the vessel to check for log entries. That is driving people out of the industry, which is one where we could create employment if the Government re-examined criminal sanctions for fishermen.

I refer to some of the other issues, such as the decision by CIE to cut a bus route to Baltimore. This affects those on the margins, those who do not have transport and are on lower incomes. Other issues include the future of Bantry general hospital. We must be cognisant of the national climate but also of the local climate. I ask the Minister of State to take these views back to Government to ensure it gets proactive about these issues.