The Labour Party has been in power for two years. It has been resoundingly rejected by the people of Meath East-----

The Deputy did not do too well herself either.

----and now decisively rejected by the organised movement of working people, a union movement led in many instances from the ranks of the Tánaiste's own members who valiantly battled for him to try to convince workers of the merits of his attack on their wages and conditions, but who failed utterly. An overwhelming majority of workers stood up to the Government parties' threats - threats, incidentally, enthusiastically championed and broadcast by their friends in the media - and yet workers faced them down, which was an act of defiance that has served as a shot in the arm for all of their victims, including lone parents, disability payment recipients, home owners and pensioners, because public sector workers demonstrated that there are a lot more of them than there are Government Members. They debunked the myth that it is not possible to take on the Government. The reason for their defiance is simply that there is no more blood to be taken from that stone. How could it be otherwise when a majority of public sector workers who earn between €23,000 and €45,000 a year have endured a 22% pay cut and the Government wants to impose more on top of that?

That is completely untrue.

Where is the Government going? The labour and trade union movement was built on solidarity and sacrifice. The ambitions of people like Connolly and Larkin were not just about defending wages and conditions but also about developing a vision of a better society which puts the interests of ordinary people first. The Tánaiste has completely failed and abandoned that tradition.

More than 100 years ago in Wexford, the constituency of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, future Labour Deputy, Dick Corish, led a strike of 700 workers at Pierce Foundry. It was a titanic strike for six months that won union recognition during which workers were bludgeoned on the streets. What would these self-sacrificing heroes think of the Minister? What would Dick Corish think of his county man, Deputy Howlin, imposing pay cuts of 7% at the behest of international financiers?

Since the Tánaiste does not believe in struggle and solidarity, is it not time he did the honourable thing and followed the path of the tradition that he is firmly in and, like Michael O'Leary before him, go off and join Fine Gael and bring the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with him?

The Minister is there already.

The Deputy is well briefed on the Wexford situation.

The Labour Party has always stood for, and stands by, working people.

This is the Dáil, not a comedy show.

Fianna Fáil Members are in no position to laugh after the condition they left the country in. Whatever they do, please do not add insult to injury. They left the country in ruins. Please do not scoff at what they have done or at the job we have done to restore the country.

Will Members please stop this nonsense and allow colleagues to ask questions and hear the answers?

I have not said a word. The Tánaiste is too precious about himself.

The first thing that working people need is a job and that is why we have to fix this country's economy, its reputation, its banking system and its finances in order that we will get the investment in the country to sustain jobs and to create more jobs.

Second, the Labour Party has always believed in decent public services in this country and in access to health and education and the other public services we need, but in order to have public services,one has to able to pay for them. One cannot live in a fantasy world or a world of fairytales where somebody else will pay for them-----

When did the Tánaiste realise that?

-----and that is why we have to fix the state of the public finances we inherited in order that public services can be ensured into the future and in order that those who work in our public services and whom we respect can have the job security they deserve.

With less money.

The Government put a set of proposals developed in negotiations with the trade unions. Those proposals have not been accepted. We now need to look at this situation with the trade unions that represent those employees. It is a time for that to be done in a calm and reasoned way and it is not a time for Deputy Daly or anybody else to play politics with it.

The Tánaiste has become so indistinguishable from Fine Gael that he does not answer questions in the same way. The reality is people have clearly rejected the Labour Party and is it any wonder?

More than 13,000 full-time jobs were lost last year and youth unemployment stands at 27%, despite the fact that 1,600 young people are being driven from these shores every week. The Government speaks of alternatives, having put forward a deal which left low paid workers facing cuts in pay of between 3% and 11% on top of cuts they have taken in each of the preceding years-----

The Deputy should tell the truth.

-----while those at the top, including former Ministers on pensions of €135,000, were asked to take a 5% cut. Alternatives have been clearly outlined. The problem for the Tánaiste is that he must try to spin the fairytale of "Eamon in wonderland", a place where it is possible to magically squeeze blood from people who have nothing else to give. That is the message the Tánaiste has been giving. The vote by the trade unions is a turning point as he and his backbench Deputies know. I will ask the latter a question over their leader's head. Will they try to cover their tracks to protect their seats-----

The Deputy should put a question.

-----or will they join the ranks of the real opposition that is growing outside, while the Tánaiste stays with his friends?

I will suspend the sitting rather than ask Deputies to be quiet again. I am serious about this; the interruptions must stop. Please allow the Tánaiste to answer without interruption.

This country has a huge problem of unemployment. It is not true, however, that the number of people at work reduced last year; it increased.

Mainly through part-time jobs.

I am not-----

The Tánaiste should ignore interruptions.

There is a huge problem of unemployment. The Government inherited a very big, deep financial problem when it was elected. When one has problems of such a scale one can either rant and chant about them, as Deputy Clare Daly does, or one can try to fix them, as the Labour Party entered government to do and is doing. Let us take the issue of youth unemployment. The Deputy is correct that the level of youth unemployment is much too high. Far too many young people coming out of college and university cannot find the type of employment their qualifications justify. One can either shout slogans about this or try to solve the problem. The Labour Party placed the idea of a youth guarantee on the agenda of the European Union and succeeded in negotiating a package of €6 billion to support the guarantee and enable us to put in place practical measures to resolve these problems. This is the reason, for example, that we work so hard to try to attract investment to this country and provide employment for young people coming out of college.

It is remarkable that one can go through constituency after constituency and one will find the ultra left opposing every single proposal for industrial development or the location of industry. In my constituency, for example, a proposal by a company to provide additional employment is being actively opposed by Deputy Daly's colleagues on the benches opposite. The Deputies cannot have it both ways. They cannot chant, rave and shout slogans about youth unemployment and then oppose every single measure that is taken, whether to correct the public finances or locate a particular industry in a particular area to try to solve youth unemployment.

What is the project?

The Tánaiste should name it.

While Deputy Daly and I share a concern about the level of youth unemployment and the problems of working people, the difference between us is that she shouts slogans at problems whereas I work in government to try to solve them.

We should give the Tánaiste a medal.

The Government is taking money out of the pockets of workers.

Deputies are continuing to make a show of the House by shouting. I ask them to allow the Tánaiste to present the Order of Business.