I call on Deputy Gilmore, without interruption.

I remind the Taoiseach that the elected representatives of all the people are in this House, and that the Taoiseach is not free to run the Government as he sees fit. He is free to run the Government in accordance with the authority he derives from this House, as long as he is accountable and responds to this House for his actions.

Hear, hear.

Can I ask him specifically about job losses, which represent the most important aspect of this country's economic problems? I will list some of the big job losses that have been announced since 1 January last — 1,900 at Dell; 290 at Dublin Bus; 300 at Kostal; 120 at Amann; 400 at Superquinn; 320 at Bus Éireann; 180 at Cigna; 145 at Britvic; 220 at Galmoy Mines; 750 at Ulster Bank and First Active; and 1,000 in local authorities. Many more people have lost their jobs in shops, restaurants, architects' practices, solicitors' practices and building sites.

Some 154,000 people were on the live register 18 months ago, on the day of the 2007 general election. That number has doubled since then and is predicted by some commentators to increase to 420,000 by the end of this year. Can the Taoiseach give the House details of the total cost to the Exchequer, taking social welfare payments, secondary benefits and lost tax revenue into account, of the addition to the live register of 120,000 people over the past year? Similarly, can he give the House an estimate of the additional cost to the Exchequer of an increase in unemployment to 420,000 by the end of this year?

I assure the Deputy, in response to his introductory remarks, that I am not suggesting I run this House other than by the authority of the Dáil. When I was arguing my case in response to Deputy Kenny, I made the point that I have a responsibility to do this job as I believe it should be done, for as long as I hold it. That is a prerequisite for, and the prerogative of, anybody who holds this position. It was in that sense, and in no other sense, that I said what I had to say. I am as committed a democrat as anyone else. I am a part of the democratic life of this country, just like anyone else. I have had the privilege and honour of representing my constituency for many years as a result. We do not part the waves on that particular point.

I will have to get more details before I can respond fully to Deputy Gilmore. However, I can tell him that it is estimated that for every 100,000 people who are unemployed, revenues of approximately €1 billion need to be devoted to the social welfare Vote alone.

Will there be another budget?

Please, now.

It is a fair question.

It is not a fair question to ask during Leaders' Questions.

Fine Gael has another leader.

The task we face is made more difficult by the fact that social costs are increasing and revenues are decreasing. It is clear that if we are to bridge the gap, or reduce the deficit that has grown, expenditure savings and taxation changes will be required in the years ahead. We will need to strike a balance to protect as many jobs as possible, while putting in place the basis on which services can be provided in the future. A combination of measures will be required over the medium and long terms. The report of the Commission on Taxation, which will be published later this year, represents a timely opportunity to undertake a systemic review of all aspects of our taxation system in the context of the new challenges we face, such as the fact that we will not be returning to the large rates of economic growth we saw in the past.

Like the rest of the western and developed world, Ireland needs to adapt to the profound changes that are occurring in the context of the current financial and economic crisis and the global recession in which we are all enveloped. Choices will have to be made by the Government as we proceed. If we are to meet the clear challenge of upholding the principle of social solidarity, as I believe we should seek to do, the burden of adjustment will have to be equitably borne by everybody. That means those who have a greater capacity to carry that burden will have to do so. A political judgment will have to be made, one that is not perfect and will never meet with unanimity. Given the fluid situation we are in, the scale of the challenge is such that we cannot suggest with any certainty that any constituency or cohort of people can be immune from the impact of the adjustment that has to be made. However, we will work on the basis of trying to stabilise the public finances and provide social solidarity. We will use this opportunity to try to reform a range of areas. It is clear that the status quo does not represent a model for maintaining the level of services our people are entitled to expect, even in these difficult times.

We will bring certain proposals to the people in the aftermath of the current discussions, which I hope will prove successful. It is properly the right of this House to debate these issues on an ongoing basis. It is important — week in, week out; month, in month out; and year in, year out — to engage in an ongoing effort to ensure that the steps back we have to take now do not involve more than a temporary adjustment. When the economic recession ends and there is an upturn in the global economy, we will need to be able to play to our strengths. We will have to work on short-term initiatives while dealing with the long-term structural problems we face. Our tax base decreased by 15% in the last financial year and it may decrease further this year.

We need to be proactive in helping the newly unemployed to focus on getting back into employment as soon as possible. It is planned to increase the number of places provided each year under the jobsearch and employment support services from 78,000 to 147,000. It is also planned to increase the number of places in FÁS short training courses for the newly unemployed from 27,000 to 78,000. A further 400 subsidised jobs will be offered to redundant apprentices. FÁS has established a training fund to respond speedily to the retraining needs of low-skilled workers and redundant craft workers.

Enterprise Ireland needs to continue to assist start-up companies and identify growth areas in markets where problems are being encountered at present. Not only do we have to contend with the global downturn and the financial crisis that is enveloping the developed world, but we also have to deal with problems on the currency side, such as the depreciation of over 30% in the value of sterling compared to the euro over recent months, which is placing a great burden on our exporting community, including many companies in the indigenous sector.

What is the Taoiseach doing about these problems?

I refer, for example, to companies in labour-intensive sectors such as the food sector. If we had to contend with just one of these serious challenges, that would be enough difficulty for us, but we must deal with many challenges contemporaneously, and we must deal with them.

What is the Government doing about the main problem, which is the legacy of the last ten years?

I have set out the facts we face and the size of the challenge we must confront. We will deal with the problems we face by working together as part of a national effort to confront them.

Hear, hear.

That was an amazing reply. We have been told that the Taoiseach and the Government have been preoccupied over recent weeks with the state of the public finances. We have heard about all kinds of meetings, such as day-long and two-day Cabinet meetings, at which the state of the public finances has been considered. I asked the Taoiseach two simple questions, but he was unable to reply to either of them. The Government is examining the public finances at a time when the biggest economic problem we face is the loss of jobs. In such economic circumstances, I am utterly astonished that the Taoiseach — the Head of Government — did not give the House a ballpark figure for the total cost to the Exchequer of rising unemployment.

He did.

The Deputy was not listening.

He did. He gave me a figure that was drawn up on the back of an envelope.

It is the same thing.

It was a ballpark figure.

He got the Minister, Deputy Smith, to help him.

We will follow it. I heard the Taoiseach say that for every 100,000 people who are unemployed, social welfare payments of approximately €1 billion need to be made. That figure increases to €1.2 billion when one considers that 120,000 people have lost their jobs under this Administration so far. When one factors in secondary benefits and the loss of tax revenue, it seems we are talking about a ballpark figure of between €2 billion and €2.5 billion. That figure will double if an additional 120,000 people lose their jobs over the course of the next year. That big gap is causing the problem in the public finances. That is where moneys are being lost. When people lose their jobs, problems arise in the public finances. The Taoiseach has not been able to tell the House with any accuracy what the extent of that problem is, or what are the future projections in respect of it. He has not said anything about putting people back to work. The Taoiseach has spoken in general terms, in response to Deputy Kenny, about a macro-economic plan, micro initiatives and a national effort. However, we have seen none of this. A debate on the economy will begin in the House tomorrow morning but the Government has produced no plan, no strategy and no proposals. The Taoiseach told us his big idea was to have discussions with the social partners. I am all in favour of this and have been suggesting since last October that such discussions take place. The Taoiseach convened a meeting of the social partners last Friday. No Minister attended that meeting and the Taoiseach had no proposals for the social partners. Apparently, the Taoiseach has today given them some type of framework document which contains no specifics.

The public understands that we are in an economic crisis, that many people are losing their jobs and that measures must be taken to address the problem. The difficulty we have is that the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, even after a six-week break to enable him to do it——

I have had no break.

——has still not brought forward the proposals and cannot even give the House basic information as to the cost of job losses and unemployment in the economy.

I can. The purpose of Deputy Gilmore's statement is to rubbish the efforts of the Government——

What efforts?

——to provide, first, a stable framework on which to deal with and proceed with this issue.

I cannot rubbish something I have not seen.

Exactly. Deputy Gilmore has rubbished the proposal without seeing it.

No, I have rubbished the Government for not producing it.

The point is that we brought forward, before Christmas, a framework for economic renewal which sets out many action points in a range of areas in terms of the provision of jobs and investment opportunities, continued research and development and so on, namely, the strengths we have built up over the years and which should not be dismissed, even in the context of a recession. We have set out those action points and they will be acted upon in the coming weeks and months as we implement our policies.

However, in order to be successful in implementing any plan, we must bring some stability to the public finance position. We have set out a plan that will bring about an adjustment of some €16.5 billion between taxation measures and expenditure cuts in the next five years.

The Government has not done so.

We have set out that plan and have forwarded it to the European Commission. We are beginning step one in regard to 2009 by finalising our arrangements during the coming week and bringing to the House those savings of €2 billion. That is what we intend to do. Thereafter, we will work with the social partners on an ongoing basis on the basis of an agreed framework for action as to how we deal with the problems that will arise as the recession perhaps continues, prolongs and deepens. That is what we have to do and what we are doing. To suggest we are not doing that is not to acknowledge the facts as they are.

Where is the evidence?

The evidence is that the framework for economic renewal sets out our economic policy priorities, which were provided before Christmas. We said then that if we are to achieve those objectives we must restore order to our public finances. We begin on that road this week. We are involving the social partners during the course of this month in order to achieve broad agreement on the approach we intend to take. We are looking at all areas of expenditure in a way in which the Opposition was not prepared to do——

——so that we can minimise the impact on ordinary people as we proceed with this adjustment.

Opposition Members are speaking out of both sides of their mouths.