UNEMPLOYMENT:DUBLIN INNER city local election candidate Rebecca Moynihan told the conference of her personal experience of unemployment. "I have recently been made unemployed and it has been an eye-opener for me."
Unemployment dominated the finance debate. Ms Moynihan, who worked in the communications department of international charity Concern Worldwide for 4½ years, said people should go to the local labour exchange and see what the loss of jobs was doing to the State.
“There are a lot of us who never expected to be signing on. We look at each other, standing in the queue, and say: ‘you don’t belong here’.” She added that the men and women on the dole queue were people with considerable skills and experience who were willing to work hard.
“If we cannot utilise these resources, and get these people back to work, we are never going to pull ourselves out of this mess.”
Stephen Goulding (Newcastlewest, Co Limerick) referred to the high unemployment rate in west Limerick.
“Over the past year, we have seen a 97 per cent increase in unemployment in our town. That is in Newcastlewest alone.
“Other towns, such as Abbeyfeale and Athea, have had significant increases also. We have lost 1,500 out of 2,000 manufacturing jobs in three years.”
Maria Prodi (Dublin) said that while canvassing for the local elections she had met a young man who had recently graduated as a mechanical engineer.
“He is unable to find a job, and his father has just been laid off. He completed his end of the bargain by graduating from college, but the Government has not fulfilled its end of the bargain.”
She said the Government’s approach to the downturn in the economy was to look at statistics when it should be examining how it was affecting people’s lives.
Lorraine Kingston (Cork South Central) recalled how the closure of Dunlops and Fords had blighted Cork in the 1980s. “Today’s parents still remember how those closures affected their own parents, and now their children are facing the same concerns and worries.”
Arthur Spring (Kerry North) said that as the owner of a small business he understood the plight of small and medium-sized enterprises in the State.
“However, the time for the blame-game is over. It is now a question of solutions.
“The word which brings me to the Labour Party is integrity. It is through integrity we will find trust . . . trust for domestic and international purposes.
“And when we have trust, we will find confidence.” Mr Spring said that one of the first things which had to be done was rebuilding the banks.
“We must get rid of the boards which have created the greatest mess this economy has ever been in.”
Cian O’Callaghan (Dublin) said that people on the doorstep asked him why, if the country was in it together, the elderly, the young and the sick were bearing the brunt of the economic crisis and not the golden circle who were wined and dined in the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races.
“They ask why workers are losing pay and their jobs . . . why is it that they are struggling to make ends meet, while Brian Cowen remains one of best paid heads of government in this world.”
Aodhán Ó Riordáin (Dublin) said that what the people he represented in the north inner city always had was a sense of hope and that things would get better.
“But things have changed in Ireland. As I walk through Marino, Donnycarney, Fairvew and Clontarf, I meet people who do not have any hope any more.”
