John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I was determined not to be political or to try and score points in my comments, but it is difficult not to. I had to send a text message to people today to inform them that my branch AGM was cancelled because of the snow. I had to look through every number in my phone back to do that and noticed that a significant number of my contacts now live in Canada, Australia and London because of the policies pursued by the Government and the policies that have elected people such as the Minister of State to the Dáil over the past 13 years. It is difficult not to try and score points as a result.

I commend the Labour Party and fully support its motion. This is what politics is about. The motion brings our economic mess back to the fundamental issue of employment, which is central to people's lives. If employment is not available, people will leave the country. People's lives have been ruined because of the policies that have been pursued by Fianna Fáil and its different friends in Government over the past 13 years. This makes it difficult not to be party political when pointing that out.

I want to mention some other issues with which the Minister of State was in agreement in his speech. Senator Boyle stated that the Minister of State said the Government does not create jobs. This is my second term in the Seanad and I am aware that the numbers employed in the public sector demonstrate that Fianna Fáil and the different parties in Government spent significant money creating jobs during the past 13 years. If we examined the increase in the numbers employed in the public service, we would see it coincided with election times. There were also huge increases in public expenditure at those times. It is a bit rich now for the Government to say it is not the Government's job to create jobs, although I believe it is not its job. I agree with the Minister of State's comments that the Government should focus on the work environment.