Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement made yesterday by the Government that it will provide €200,000 to GOAL to provide humanitarian assistance for vulnerable families fleeing the conflict in Iraq. We all share the concern that the security situation has seriously deteriorated and the fact that 500,000 people have been displaced as a result of the intense fighting there. Everybody in this House joins the Tánaiste in condemning the sectarian attacks against civilians in Iraq and calls for the immediate release of prisoners, including the Turkish nationals that were taken hostage recently in Mosul. In recent elections the Iraqis have demonstrated their support for civilian government, and it is now incumbent on all Iraqi leaders to come together to provide national unity and ease the tensions within the country.

I also call on the Leader to schedule a debate in this House on the NESC report published yesterday which shows that 23% of Irish households are jobless. This is far above the European norm. Some 56% of Irish jobless households have children and these households are most likely to have no educational qualifications, to be unskilled and never to have had work. The Taoiseach has said it is a priority of the Government to break the cycle of poverty and unemployment and the Government has stated that it will not accept a recovering economy and labour market where a large number of people are left behind. We need to tease out with our Ministers how we are going to break this cycle of unemployment for so many people. If we cannot have this debate before the end of this session, can we have it early in the new session?