David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

We will see about that. I want to put my remarks into context. I cannot agree with previous speakers who stated that this jobs initiative amounts to ambition on behalf of the Government. It has been said on numerous occasions that this initiative is revenue neutral but I believe it is jobs neutral as well. I fail to see where the real jobs will come from and in that regard the context has been clearly set out for us again with the latest CSO and live register figures. A total of 440,000 people across this State are out of work, and 14,500 of those are in my county of Waterford. Well over 100,000 young people have emigrated and potentially more will emigrate in the coming months. They do not see any real hope in what was delivered in this jobs initiative.

The measure of success of this jobs initiative or any initiative the Government will take is whether it will eat into the live register figures, so to speak. I am not happy saying this but I have no doubt that given the initiative and the fact that it failed in so many areas, we could be back here 12 months from now discussing similar live register figures, which would be an indictment of this Government. Many promises were made during the course of the election campaign about 100,000 jobs here and 50,000 jobs there but I do not believe those jobs will materialise.

The Government must avoid making the mistakes of the previous Government. One of its biggest mistakes was to believe that cuts provided the way out of recession, such as cutting people's pay and welfare benefits. A previous speaker spoke about some of the secondary benefits people on social welfare receive. The reason they receive those benefits is because they need them. When the low income and middle income families see their wages cut, that has the opposite effect and we have seen that. We have had all these cuts over the last number of years, and we have seen a reduction in retail sales. The reason small businesses across the State are suffering is that footfall is down and people have less money to spend. They are fearful and are tightening up their spending. That is why I have called several times for a proper discussion on the future of the JLCs. It is very important to me because if we continue to cut the pay of low income families, which it seems the Minister is about to do, this means that the industries where those people work, such as the retail sector, hairdressing or whatever, will be punished again because people will have less money to spend in restaurants, grocery stores and so on. Every euro taken from the pocket of a low income family is taken from the tills of local retailers. That has happened over the last number of years and will happen again if this Government continues on its course.

There is some good news on the jobs front in Waterford. A serious regeneration programme is being opened up in Waterford, with three museums known as the Viking Triangle located on the Mall in the city. It is a fantastic initiative and was supported by the city manager, all the political parties and the previous and current Governments. It will create jobs and bring tourists to the area, and it complements the House of Waterford Crystal. I commend all of those who were involved in that initiative.

The county and the region I come from has been operating with one hand tied behind its back for many years due to the failure of the previous Government to designate Waterford IT as a university of the south east. We hear much about funding and money being made available for certain projects, yet this could be done by the Government and would lift the entire region. The reason we need a university is for funding, autonomy, and branding, but also because many young people have to leave Waterford and go to Dublin, Cork and Limerick for fourth level education. They should be able to stay in the city and the region and get the education they need. This is the kind of initiative that the Government could be examining. It is not all about finance, and it is one act the current Government could do that would lift the lives of so many people in Waterford and the south east.

I am very conscious of the mistakes that have been made by the previous Government. We all went through a tough election campaign and we know many people out there are suffering and are looking for hope and something different. However, I have to say that I do not believe this jobs initiaitve steps up to the mark at all. It does not offer hope to those people who are out of work, and the Government has shown a lack of ambition in terms of stimulus, getting people back to work, supporting entrepreneurs and dealing with the real issues that affect business people, such as rates, service charges, rents and so on. These are the issues that we need to tackle. We must support those entrepreneurs and make sure that those people who want to create jobs are given the time and space to do so. The way to do that is not to cut the pay of low income families. That will have the opposite effect. What happened over the last few years clearly has not worked. It has brought us to a situation where 460,000 people are out of work. Let us reverse that trend, make better decisions and get some of those people back to work.