Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

When did the building bust happen? There are 435,000 people unemployed. We need investment and every Department in government functioning and working towards the jobs initiative that was recently rolled out by the Minister, Deputy Bruton. All 15 Government Departments need to work in a coherent fashion.

The Government has set about renegotiating the bailout programme and has succeeded in saving €10 billion so far by getting a interest rate reduction on the bailout funds. It made a good start and led by example from the front by cutting the salaries of the Taoiseach and Ministers and reducing the cost of ministerial transport and the benefits enjoyed by former taoisigh.

It is only a start, but confidence is beginning to return. We have seen significant job announcements in recent weeks and I hope the recent visits by many Ministers to countries throughout the world will bring about badly needed investment over the coming years. There is a huge job of work to be done. Fianna Fáil did some good things when it was in office but also did some terrible things.

I acknowledge the efforts of the peace process. One cannot put a price on that. It should contribute significantly to investment on this island. I will not knock everything Fianna Fáil did but, from an economic point of view, we were very badly mismanaged over the past number of years in particular.