asked the Minister for Finance if the Government propose to revise the targets in relation to the reduction of unemployment and taxation in Building on Reality, 1985-87 and, if so, if he will indicate the revised targets or, alternatively, the action he now proposes to enable the original targets to be achieved.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers (Resumed). - Unemployment and Taxation Targets.
19.
The national plan Building on Reality envisaged that, over the period from April 1984 to April 1987, the level of unemployment would stabilise reflecting an expansion in private sector employment, augmented by the special schemes provided for in the plan. The performance of private sector employment has not been as strong as had been hoped for. As indicated by the Taoiseach in the Dáil on 23 October last, the Government reviewed progress on the national plan in this and other respects and considered it appropriate to introduce policy adjustments to boost employment creation with a view to bringing the employment position closer into line with the plan expectations.
As regards taxation the Government propose to adhere to the commitment in the plan that there will be no increase in the overall burden of taxation as a percentage of GNP as compared with its 1984 level.
In view of the graph in this document which projected an unemployment figure of 210,000 for 1986, would the Minister recognise that that document is totally discredited, and its authors even more so? Is there any reality in presenting these unemployment targets when the position is that at present there are 230,000 people unemployed? Are the Government seriously telling us that despite that reality we will have an average number of 210,000 unemployed for 1986? How much reliance can anyone place on these proposals?
These remarks would be more relevant to a budget debate.
My question relates to unemployment targets in the document Building on Reality. I want to know how much I or anybody else should rely on these figures. Are they meant to be fairy tales, or are they related to reality? If so, projections are at least 20,000 out at the moment.
As I said in my reply and Deputy O'Kennedy has drawn attention to it, as I have done on a number of occasions, the performance of private sector employment has not been as strong as we hoped for in the plan. It was for that reason, among others, that the Government have reviewed the situation and brought forward the policy adjustments which the Taoiseach announced in the House on 23 October. We are very keenly aware of the reality.