Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

The Minister for Finance has not addressed the fact that the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel has increased so much in recent months. We had an opportunity to change that last week but when the Minister was in the House I did not see any Fine Gael or Labour Party Senators jumping up and down and saying that needed to be done. However, it does need to be done.

We have also seen tens of millions of euro squandered by the Government. Money was available from the European Union to retrain workers let off by Dell, Waterford Crystal and people in the construction industry but it was handed back without being used. That is absolutely disgraceful. We must get people retrained so that they can find gainful employment.

In its pre-election manifesto the Labour Party promised a strategic investment bank. Where is it? The local and community development programme, LCDP, used to provide services to people, in particular individuals who wanted to set up their own business. We have seen severe cuts in these areas, for example, of up to 35% in the community and voluntary sector, and the LCDP is one of those programmes. It is stifling the supports that were available to people on the ground who would set up small and medium enterprises. We also heard of a plan to subsume county enterprise boards. I consider that a retrograde step. It will not help people who want to set up small and medium enterprises around the country.

In the Gaeltacht areas we have seen cuts to the capital grants of Údarás na Gaeltachta. That has meant that in Gaeltacht areas it has been impossible to keep the level of employment as it has been in previous years. The cut must be reversed so that jobs can be created in the future.

One of the main problems faced by small and medium enterprises is being hounded by Revenue. That must be said because in previous years Revenue might have been able to give a certain amount of leniency but it is lethal in the way it is now following up cases and making sure that people have paid up by the deadline which gives people big problems from a cashflow perspective.

Two groups were left out of the JobBridge programme, namely, single parents and people with a disability. There is a discrimination against them. I am aware of single parents in particular who want to set up their own business but were not able to avail of JobBridge in order to do that.

As we have consistently done, we welcome the positive ideas and we have provided some of our own. My colleague, Senator Cullinane, will further outline the Sinn Féin position. Go ginearálta, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh na moltaí atá déanta. Is mian linn cur leo. Is é sin an fáth go bhfuil leasú curtha chun cinn againn.