I wish the Ceann Comhairle well for the new year as I do all Members, staff of the Houses and press representatives. Ireland's unemployment rate is the fourth highest in the EU with long-term unemployment accounting for 60% of people who are unemployed. Only massive emigration is keeping unemployment below the 500,000 mark. Surely, the Minister will concur that the onset of the economic downturn is one of the greatest threats to public health in the history of the State. Having no job is seen as an economic problem but it damages the physical and mental health of people who are unemployed causing heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.

The links between unemployment and health receive little or no attention from Government and policy makers. Job loss is associated with elevated rates of mental and physical health problems, increased mortality and detrimental changes to family relationships and the psychological well-being of spouses and children. The Irish Mental Health Commission, EU and World Health Organisation have all released reports recently which set out compelling statistics on the negative effect of the recession on national psychological health and well-being. Mental health across the population, particularly among men, has deteriorated since the onset of austerity measures over the last number of years. Suicide levels are increasing at an alarming rate, particularly among young unemployed men. Figures from the Irish Association of Suicidology suggest that for every percentage increase in unemployment, there is a corresponding increase of 0.7% in the incidence of suicide.

With 700,000 people on or below the poverty line and more than 200,000 children going to school hungry or without proper clothing, two national organisations - the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Social Justice Ireland - which advocate for those people have seemingly been ignored. Why was there no in-depth social impact assessment carried out prior to the publication of the budget to ensure the circumstances of those experiencing poverty and social exclusion would not be made worse by austerity measures? Will the Minister give a commitment to the House, prior to the publication of the national social report for 2012, to agree to an impact study and to establish a task force comprising the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Social Justice Ireland, MABS, the Mental Health Commission and Aware to deal with the serious health problems associated with unemployment?

From the very establishment of the Government and before in the discussions on a programme for Government, Fine Gael and the Labour Party were absolutely clear that the primary objective of the Government was economic recovery. A core part of that and the primary issue for Government was the creation of jobs. The Government accepts fully the point made by Deputy John Halligan that the impact of joblessness is huge on the mental, physical and economic well-being of our people and on the structure of our society. That is why jobs have been at the heart of everything we have tried to do from the moment of the establishment of the Government. Within 100 days of taking office, we established the first jobs initiative and set out our strategy to repair the economy and create an environment for investment. We have had some significant successes to date but there is no doubt that there is a considerable way to go. We have the strategy to address the issues and I can lay out to the House in some detail what action has been taken.

Our first act was to abandon the failed strategy of our predecessor Government which sought to build an economy on property, banking and debt. We have sought to move to an economy based on enterprise, exports and innovation, the strategy which led to recovery at the end of the 1990s. The level of unemployment is wholly unacceptable which is why the Government is determined to work might and main to address the problem. We have moved in the right direction. The IDA reported 12,000 net new jobs in the last two years while Enterprise Ireland reported 3,804 in 2012. In 2011, Irish exports reached the highest level ever at €173 billion, exceeding the level of exports during the boom years. In the years 2008 to 2010, we lost 40,000 jobs in the export sector but in 2011, we gained an additional 10,000. As I said when referring to Fáilte Ireland, we have recently seen the first significant rise in employment in the tourism sector since 2008.

The strategies are working and we have a way to go. We are very aware that this is our number one priority which is why we have a special Cabinet meeting devoted to this where every Minister will make a series of proposals that will be drawn together this afternoon.

The Minister is out of touch with reality. Over Christmas, many thousands of people throughout the country had no heating, no television service and no proper food. I ask the Minister to acknowledge that this is the case and if so, to take the opportunity to meet the people working in front line services like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Social Justice Ireland, whom he ignored in the previous budget, and to undo the mistake he made in the two most recent budgets. He should bring in the groups working with the 700,000 people who are our people and who voted for and put their trust in us in the last election so they could have a better quality of life. Instead they are condemned to poverty, despair and desolation. I will not get into an argument because I am into conciliation rather than confrontation but I appeal to the Minister to meet Social Justice Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul as I and many other Deputies have done and to listen to what they have to say, which might shock him, rather than talk to them for five or six minutes. I understand the Minister did not meet the Society of St. Vincent de Paul before the last budget. I urge him to set up this task force because he would do a great service to all those who are ill on the unemployment system.

To clarify matters, both the Minister for Finance and I met Social Justice Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul before the budget. Social Justice Ireland held a formal meeting this week with the Secretary General of my Department so we are very aware and in touch and I know the Deputy will acknowledge that. We are aware of the impact of the economic catastrophe that has befallen this country but there is no point in decrying it. We must present solutions and hope to people and have set out our journey to recovery. We have travelled a fair degree of that journey but we have a way to go and we know there are people who are hurting badly. We will do everything we can to sustain the supports we have. We must borrow to do so in terms of social protection, health, education and so on and at the same time ensure we create an environment that will put growth, jobs and investment back in our economy and break away from the dependency on the troika so we can make our economic decisions. We are on the path to that recovery and I think people will stay with this Government because they know we are competently walking down that road.