Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday I asked about the notice the Minister for Finance received with regard to the Revenue Commissioners' initiative to send out 150,000 letters to senior citizens. The Leader said yesterday he did not believe any notice was given to the Minister. I do not believe that, nor do I believe what the Taoiseach said to my party leader yesterday. The Government cannot simply wash its hands of this; it is in office to govern. I do not believe in any way that there would have been no discussion between the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance on an initiative to collec €45 million, and that the Minister for Finance, at the very least, would not have known about this. I ask the Leader to confirm whether the Minister actually had notice of this initiative of the Revenue Commissioners.

We will all be concerned by the news from Ulster Bank this morning that 600 people will be losing their jobs in the bank in the Republic, and that 350 will lose theirs in the North. The Leader will recall that on a number of occasions last year I raised the issue of Aviva. Some 900 staff in Aviva will be losing their jobs some time this year. They do not know what sections or staff will be affected. Colleagues on this side of the House and I made a suggestion to the Government that an audit of businesses at risk be carried out and that contingency plans be put in place in areas where there may be job losses. The financial services and banking sectors are sectors in which it is very clear there will be further losses. There is talk of another 2,000 staff redundancies in AIB this year. What plan has the Government to deal with the mounting job losses in this sector? What contact, if any, has the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation had with Aviva since its announcement in the summer and with Ulster Bank and the other banking institutions? Thousands of jobs may be lost and it is important that the Government not only react to each announcement, when it is made, but also put in place a plan to deal with the thousands of staff who will, unfortunately, lose their jobs.

Even with the jobs budget, which became a jobs initiative, and the other jobs initiative announced by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, yesterday, the unemployment rate last year rose to an average of 14.2%, up from 13.8% in the previous year. It is as clear as the nose on one's face that the jobs initiative is simply not working. Based on the European Commission's report, which was quite critical of the Government's budget in that the amount of money cut from our capital programme was far too great, it appears the cuts will further depress any chance of growth in the economy. The VAT increase of two percentage points will put further pressure on an already strained retail sector. I am glad we are to have a discussion in the House next week on jobs but the staff in Ulster Bank, Aviva, AIB and Bank of Ireland and I want to know now the plans the Government has in place to assist staff at this very difficult time.

I will not ask again about the mortgage arrears implementation strategy. The people to whom I refer have mortgages and young families. It is three months since the issuing of the Keane report but nothing has been done. When can we expect the much-vaunted plan to assist people in mortgage arrears to be published and, more important, implemented by the Government?