Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. San óráid a thug sí, dúirt sí gur bua í an scéim seo do gach éinne. Más bua é an polasaí seo do gach éinne - an té atá ag cur fostaíocht ar fáil agus an té atá amuigh as obair agus ag lorg fostaíochta - agus don Stáit, cén fáth fur ghlac an Rialtas an oiread seo ama é a thabhairt isteach? Chualamar inniu go bhfuil na mílte daoine sa bhreis ar liosta dífhostaíochta na tíre seo. Tá níos mó ná 450,000 duine dífhostaithe anois. Tá scéim beag amháin á thabhairt chun tosaigh ag an Rialtas taréis blianta de chúlú eacnamaíochta. Tá na mílte daoine fágtha gan post agus na mílte daoine óga, go háirithe, ag fágáil na tíre.

The Minister of State has noted that this is a win-win for everyone. There are serious questions to be asked about allowing employers to take a PRSI holiday at a time when the Exchequer and the Department of Finance must bolster the social insurance fund because of the demise of the latter. However, if the Minister of State really believes this is a scheme in which everyone wins, that is, employers, employees and the State, why has it taken so long for the Government which is meant to be focused on job creation to come up with this simple and basic measure to save, create and retain jobs? Why has it taken until now when we have reached the point where 450,000 people are unemployed to come up with such a simple measure? The answer to this question is that the Government does not have a job creation strategy. This is a feeble attempt by it, on a night when the CSO figures have been published, to portray the image that it is doing something about the problem. Regardless of whether one agrees with the PRSI exemption scheme, its impact will be tiny in the face of the current massive crisis, the effects of which are felt in every street, village and townland. I come from County Donegal, in which one third of the workforce is unemployed. I challenge the Minister of State to inform me of any other county in which one third of the workforce is unemployed or on the live register. It is an absolute disgrace and the legacy of the Government.

Moreover, the Government is wasting two hours in the Seanad debating a job retention scheme that only deals with a tiny part of a massive puzzle that must be put together to get the aforementioned 450,000 people back to work. It must get to come back the people who have left the country because they no longer have hope the Government and the country's leaders are providing solutions to enable them to use the academic or technical skills they have acquired through third level courses or the institutes of technology to build the economy. They have given up and left the country. What is happening in the House tonight is a farce. It is a charade aimed at trying to fool the public and showing that Fianna Fáil and the Government have a job creation strategy.

I do not support the Fine Gael amendment. Fine Gael's NewERA policy is flawed. The only people who would be put to work in the next year under that policy are the NewERA board of directors. However, that is not my major concern, which is that Fine Gael would sell off State assets such as Bord Gáis. I come from a county in which there is no gas supply, as is also the case in many rural areas in the west. I do not wish to be in the position we are in today with Eircom where the Taoiseach and Ministers has to go down on one knee to beg it to provide basic services such as broadband connectivity for rural towns and villages. We do not wish to see that happen in the supply of gas. I hope areas such as County Donegal will be connected to the gas network in the future. That is my major concern with the NewERA policy.

That said, the amendment has many aspects. It mentions the reality of the Government's handling of the economy and its injection of our money time and again into zombie banks instead of getting people back to work. I have said many times in the Chamber that everyone who becomes involved in politics does so to better society and improve the country to the best of his or her ability. However, sometimes people are out of touch. I saw this clearly on Tuesday when I attended the protest organised against the cuts in funding for services with people with intellectual disabilities. Respite care services are being reduced. Given the scarce resources invested by the Government in the past and now being withdrawn, it was heartbreaking to see people in wheelchairs outside Leinster House, while at the same time being aware that in the coming days or weeks I would be debating legislation in the House to put billions of euro into zombie banks and collapsed institutions at their expense.

There is no way I can support the Government's proposal because it does not go far enough. If one really wants to deal with the crisis, one needs to look at the various options provided. As a party, we have provided detailed, costed proposals to get the country back to work. One of the proposals involves a youth jobs fund to create 20,000 jobs which was costed by the Department. Another proposal involves producing an individual plan covering the long-term prospects of every person under 25 years of age on the live register. More than 86,000 in that age category are unemployed. Why are we not looking at their long-term prospects? Shifting them from here to there on courses is not good enough. We have argued that 2,000 places should be provided under a "one more language scheme" to give young unemployed people a chance to learn a foreign language. That would help to support the export-driven economy which we must create. We have argued that 10,000 additional community employment scheme places should be provided, with 1,000 places on conversion courses, to help third level graduates who have acquired skills that are no longer in demand to acquire skills more in demand. Another proposal involves a national development scheme to employ 2,000 people directly on public works projects. If the Minister of State had come to the House with such a series of proposals, we would have considered them.

As a party, we have costed our proposals, showing where one could receive the finance and generate the income for the stimulus injection for which we are calling to put people back to work and give hope to those calling to my office and those of other Members in both Houses looking for help in seeking passports and organising their farewell parties as they head off to Australia, America or other far-flung destinations, some perhaps never to return. It would only be in that context that I would support a Government initiative. Whether one agrees with the proposed scheme, the reality is that it does not go far enough. This debate is nothing more than a charade.