This may be the last opportunity we have to question the Taoiseach before the vote for the House to rise for the summer recess. It is perfectly obvious to everybody that there is a jobs crisis. I was looking at the Taoiseach's acceptance speech on his appointment to office and noted it contained no reference at all, good, bad or indifferent, to jobs, either in English or Irish. Some of the comments he made were quite interesting. He stated, "The movement of our people is now by choice; in the past, it was by force of circumstance. [. . .] However, Ireland in 2008 is a much better place to live for more of our people than ever before. [This is true.] Far fewer of our people are struggling on the margins of society."

In the well-publicised speech the Taoiseach made to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on 5 February this year, he pulled no punches and made no bones about the fact that the jobs crisis was the central focus of the Government. He stated jobs must be the priority in the coming years, with which I agree. In this regard, Fine Gael has put forward a detailed, costed plan for the protection and creation of 180,000 jobs. IBEC, the Construction Industry Federation and ICTU have produced plans for job creation. In this regard, I agree with Mr. Danny McCoy, Mr. David Begg and Mr. Tom Parlon on the necessity to create jobs. The plans are by no means perfect but they are plans nevertheless and contain targets and objectives.

Given that there are now 418,000 on the live register and that small businesses are going to the wall by the day, what is the Government's plan job creation? How many jobs does it expect to create in the next six months, and how does it expect to achieve this?

Any plan to create jobs must be predicated on a return to growth in the Irish economy. The quickest way to achieve this is to take three steps: bring order to the public finances; make the economy more competitive; and restructure the banking industry. We have been providing further resources for training, education and job retention. The bottom line is that, in a small open economy, restoring economic growth is the best means by which we can save, maintain and grow jobs.

Growing jobs in the teeth of the worst international recession in seven decades is the context in which the Leader of the Opposition is speaking. It is time for everyone in the House to accept and adapt policies that ensure growth returns to the economy sooner rather than later. That can only be achieved by focusing on the three major areas about which I have spoken. We must restore order to the public finances, increase economic competitiveness so people can compete in the new circumstances in which we find ourselves — we have improved competitiveness by 7% in respect of unit labour costs alone this year vis-à-vis our European competitors — and ensuring more credit is available in the economy in the aftermath of the biggest seismic shock in the financial world in modern economic history.

The Taoiseach should record that and turn it on every day if that is all he has to say.

The Taoiseach has pointed out three objectives of the Government. When appointed as Taoiseach, he said, "We know only too well from our relatively recent economic history that the wrong policies, the wrong decisions, the wrong behaviour, can carry a very high price in an economy as open and dependent on international trade as we are." These words are true. The IMF report, which we debated in the House last week, indicated clearly that this economy was overheating during the Taoiseach's reign as Minister for Finance. The Taoiseach is correct to state the wrong policies, decisions and behaviour can carry a very high price. That high price is now being borne by every household in the country because people have lost their jobs or their jobs are threatened. If the Government was big enough to accept its own mistakes and admit to having been wrong, it would be much farther down the road towards achieving national consensus on what we must do.

I agreed with the Taoiseach that it is important that every single job be protected. That is why last week I told the Taoiseach to have the Fine Gael proposal examined and costed and come back to us with his considered opinion. We will supply our personnel today to the Taoiseach because this is far too important an issue to indulge in the normal political rant that can take place here.

Deputies Bruton, Coveney and our party have put forward a plan which is costed, has proposals to protect 80,000 jobs and create 100,000 and which can use money from cash rich Irish pension funds or the European Investment Bank or some from the National Pensions Reserve Fund. Surely in light of the Taoiseach's words to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on 5 February, "jobs, jobs, jobs has to be the priority in the coming years", let me take this lst opportunity to question the Taoiseach before we are forced into a summer recess——

The Deputy can say what he likes——

Yes. The Government parties will all vote on it later despite the fact that all over the country Fianna Fáil Deputies are on local radio stations saying the House should sit through all of July.

Deputy Kenny will be gone on Thursday.

On this last day of questions to the Taoiseach, in the interests of moving our country forward and of transcending the normal political cut and thrust, I offer our plan to him. If he takes it and implements it I will give him credit and support him.

The Deputy had a contract.

I await the Taoiseach's considered opinion. Will he take that and agree that while it may have flaws it has the capacity to protect and create 180,000 jobs? Surely any Taoiseach should examine that on the basis of his own words that jobs are the priority.

They are paralysed.

I am not in the business of playing games on the last day of Leader's Questions for this session.

The Taoiseach has been playing too long.

That is assuming that Deputy Kenny is not playing games.

The game is up.

Here we go again. That is Deputy McCormack's job every morning.

Deputy McCormack should go back to sleep for a while like a good man.

The Government has plans in place, the smart economy, some of which Fine Gael took up in its document and which the Government is implementing. The plans for restructuring the banking system are in place, will be pursued and are gaining support internationally and at home. Someone who was involved in the reconstruction of the Swedish banking system spoke to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Services yesterday and supported our approach. He did not support the idea of resiling from commitments to bond holders which is the central plank of Fine Gael's supposed proposal on banking.

In the interests of avoiding partisanship this morning and the importance of the issues to be dealt with, the Government is dealing with all matters on a planned basis. Part of that correction must involve reducing expenditure. Fine Gael's policy is more cuts but no cuts, that is Fine Gael's problem.

Our policy was made clear before the Government's budget.

Some things never change.

No wonder the country is in the state it is in.