Alex White (Labour)

I thank all of my colleagues who participated in this important debate. I also thank the Minister of State for attending, being attentive and what he had to say in responding to the debate.

As Senator O'Malley said, job creation should be at the core of the economic debate we need to have. However, one could be forgiven for thinking otherwise in observing the Government's communication of its economic strategy. It has been successful in public information terms in communicating the necessity to deal with the deficit which we all agree it is necessary to address. It would churlish to suggest that should not be a central economic imperative for the country at this time. Obviously, it is, but it is what one does after that to genuinely and seriously address the jobs crisis that people want to hear about.

I welcome what the Minister of State had to say. He appears to be engaged with the issue, which is important, but that is the job he was appointed to do. However, there is no sense that there is a job crisis and it can be described as such. It can be described, as Senator O'Malley and others have done, by giving an account of the truly dreadful experience of individuals faced by unemployment. Young people are faced by it with little prospect of a future. The Government is in the peculiar position where it is able to address the issue and do something about it, but I do not get a sense from it that there is a genuine jobs crisis. There are lists of various initiatives that have been taken, some of which are not new, having been in place for some time. Some of the initiatives detailed by the Minister of State only skim the surface. He has said the IDA has made seven announcements in 2010 involving the creation of 280 new jobs, which I welcome, but practically every second day a similar number of jobs are being lost. I am not saying it is not important that jobs are being created and that foreign direct investment is being attracted to Ireland — obviously that should be pursued — but we are only skimming the surface in terms of the problem with which we have to cope.

The motion was deliberately kept short and tightly drafted and is to the effect that we need a job strategy. Does the Government agree that we need a full-blooded strategy which is coherent and which people can understand? Instead, in the amendment to the motion, there is list of various initiatives, some of which are old and some of which do not address the issue with the strength of purpose required.

I thank Senators Bacik, McCarthy, Callely, John Paul Phelan, MacSharry, Ross, McFadden, Norris, Prendergast, Boyle, Hannigan, Carty, Donohoe, Doherty, Ryan and O'Malley, in the short time she had available, for contributing to the debate. It is vital that the Houses engages on the issues at the heart of the jobs crisis. I again thank everybody for participating.