Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We made a start last year by putting money into the economy and that was very important. An unemployment rate of 8.9% must be welcomed. The creation of 130,000 jobs since February 2012 must also be welcomed. If we continue on that road, we will certainly be able to put many more fixes into the economy now that we are picking ourselves up from the economic crash and putting the pieces back into place. The Government has done exceptionally well but the electorate will make that decision early next year in the spring. We have not reached our destination yet but we are certainly on the road to it and that has been acknowledged. Much of what Senator Mooney said was by way of commentary but I would urge him to read the Fianna Fáil budget submission and he will note that the Government has done much more than his party has proposed.

Senator Terry Brennan raised the issue of Tús workers. A number of measures were introduced in response to addressing the level of unemployment including the Tús initiative and the expansion of community employment schemes. A positive aspect of it is that people are finding it difficult to get workers with respect to the Tús initiative because people are returning to employment, which is a positive sign. While this is not directly related to this Bill we have started a policy of reviewing all our schemes to ensure they operate to best effect for our society and economy. Tús has played an important role in keeping people in contact with the workforce. People were encouraged to prepare an updated CV and when a job placement arose they were in a position to take up that opportunity. I will endeavour to make sure that the Tús scheme will be reviewed and I listened carefully and have taken on board what the Senator said.