If the Taoiseach could show the same energy and effort defending the jobs of people losing them in this economy as he is prepared to show defending his job and the jobs of his Ministers, collectively and individually, we would all be much better off and this country would be much better off. It is bad enough that we have unprecedented levels of unemployment, where every day jobs are being lost and businesses are in deep trouble because the so-called solution the Taoiseach came up with to the banking crisis is clearly not working. On top of that, the Government is just not up to it.

People in this country are beginning to lose hope and are beginning to despair because they are experiencing major problems in making ends meet, keeping themselves in employment and keeping the personal and family finances going. They look at the people who are supposed to be running the country and they see they are not doing it. It is quite clear the Taoiseach will spend more time keeping the two parties in government with some kind of veneer of unity and keeping the Government in office rather than getting people in the country who lost employment back to work.

The reality is that Deputy Gilmore is involved in populist policies that do not provide a solution to the serious problems we face. Deputy Gilmore would not have provided any guarantee to the banking system and we would have had a meltdown.

Not a bad one the Taoiseach provided.

The number of jobs lost as a result would have been in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. Let us cut through the nonsense. As Deputy Gilmore goes around the country suggesting he has a solution to problems by not reducing spending and claiming he will tax those with all the money and ensuring that those who are out of work will get back to work, he has no indication of how he would correct the public finances or provide credibility, internally or externally, to the country. That is what Deputy Gilmore is talking about. The Labour Party MEP, Alan Kelly, suggested the funds made available to Limerick Dell workers were going to the workers personally. That is the populist nonsense Deputy Gilmore is going on about. It will get him up in the opinion polls but will not get any credibility marks when it comes to policy formulation to solve the problems of this country. Deputy Gilmore should continue on with what he is doing; this Government will continue to do what it is doing——

Nothing.

——which is to get this country out of trouble far more quickly than would otherwise be the case.