Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator MacSharry in expressing great regret over the announcements yesterday of job losses in Ulster Bank and Hewlett-Packard. This is most disappointing and regrettable. However, we are hearing positive news today in terms of the vote that we hope MEPs will support the EU budget, the seven-year budget worth €690 million. The negotiations on this were led by the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, who is in Strasbourg today to be present for the vote. Critical to the vote on the budget is the emphasis on the youth guarantee. As others stated, this is important across the European Union, which has appalling levels of youth unemployment. The guarantee, which was pioneered by Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, will be very specific. What we are seeing is a front-loading of €6 billion in the EU youth employment initiative. It is to be spent in 2014 and 2015 to ensure the guarantee can be given. The intention is to guarantee those who do not find a job within four months of leaving school further education, a training place or employment under the programmes. It is vital that the budget be passed so we can give effect to the guarantee.

There is another vote in Europe that is of great interest to us here, namely, the vote on the European Ombudsman. I wish Ms Emily O'Reilly luck with that vote. She is the favourite to succeed and would be a really excellent European Ombudsman.

I welcome the passage of Second Stage in the Dáil yesterday of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. It was an historic day, 21 years after the X case judgment, in that the Oireachtas finally took responsibility for passing legislation to give effect to the Supreme Court judgment. I look forward to the debate in this House.

In due course, we will be debating in this House the whistleblower legislation, the Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Bill, which the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is publishing today. One of its objectives is the protection of confidential communication between members of the public and Members of the Oireachtas. This is the kind of measure we need to see put in place to ensure that more robust inquiries can be conducted by the Oireachtas.