Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State. It is clear from her speech the tremendous work she is doing. I know she is an ideological political with tremendous integrity and for that reason I have total faith in her.

I will focus on the economic situation in Ireland, Europe and the world. Last Thursday, Mr. Olli Rehn, the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, presented his report on the current EU economic outlook and said Europe is headed for hard times and recession. He said forecasts for next year have weakened considerably since the spring and economic growth in the eurozone is expected to be an anaemic average of 0.5%, down from 1.8% which was the expectation earlier this year. The Commissioner called this a final wake-up call.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, stated in its latest employment outlook that recovery was stalling and that this was not good news for unemployment and employment prospects. The Secretary General of the OECD said that of all the facets of the crisis, from sovereign debt to banking, high unemployment was the elephant in the room. I am sure that all here today would agree with that. Every day we hear about the sovereign debt and the banks, but unemployment does not hit the radar as seriously as it should. Unemployment is the human face of the crisis and the most visible manifestation of the challenge we face to restore sustained growth. The outlook puts the spotlight on two particularly worrying aspects of the current situation: the serious threat of unemployment becoming entrenched and the disproportionate impact of the crisis on youth unemployment. Tackling persistent unemployment, improving job opportunities and ensuring adequate social safety nets should be at the top of the political agenda.

Many of us here have had transition year students working with us and learning about what goes on here over the past couple of weeks. These students are full of enthusiasm and are on the cusp of participating in the economy and our political system, but I am seriously concerned about their job prospects. It is vital that we ensure that the younger generation will be able to get jobs in Ireland. As Members are all aware, the rate of emigration has soared by 45% this year, with an astonishing 40,000 people leaving the country. Simply, there are too few jobs for young people leaving school or graduating from university. In a recent magazine report, Professor Brendan Walsh, speaking particularly about men without work, said that the rise in the unemployment rate reveals a grim picture of the impact of the recession. The overall unemployment rate has risen from 4.4% at the beginning of 2007 to 14.6% today. Male unemployment is now 17.3%, while unemployment among young men aged 20 to 24 is 32.23%. There is no doubt that unemployment causes serious mental stress for individuals and families. It behoves all of us in the Oireachtas, and the Minister of State and her colleagues in Government in particular, to make serious decisions on this. I know the Minister of State is valiantly giving a 100% effort in this regard. We want the Government to make the serious decisions. We are on a serious austerity programme, but we also need a plan for growth. We are the fair haired boys and girls in Europe because of our austerity programme, but we also need a programme for growth.

There is not much Ireland as a small economy can do to improve the EU or OECD economic outlook. It simply means that our Government and firms must act even more smartly to identify and provide the products and services customers want. We have not made much of an impact even in static markets or in exploiting markets that are still growing, such as those of India and China. This has been highlighted by the body that nominated me to the Seanad, the Irish Exporters Association. One of the benefits of being a small economy is that even in the face of a static international economy, it only takes a small extra slice of that market to boost our economy. We can and must influence start-ups and expansion of Irish SME enterprises in the midst of a recession.

I speak from first hand experience, as Lir Chocolates was started in the middle of a recession in the 1980s. Connie Doody and myself and our staff worked passionately to develop the company. In Ireland in the 1980s the national average unemployment was 17% and in many pockets and areas unemployment reached 40%. However, we put our hearts and minds together and developed a company. We started Lir Chocolates in the middle of a recession and there is no reason a similar venture cannot happen again if SMEs get the proper support. Today, Lir Chocolates employs 250 people in Navan and this can be emulated.

I compliment the Government on its support to the banks, but making money available for SMEs is still critical. It is up to family and friends now to help people as the banks are not forthcoming with funds. The revised code for banks dealing with SMEs published by the Central Bank is an improvement and it will put the screws on the banks and ensure they are more careful about personal guarantees.