Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has welcomed IBEC’s endorsement of Fine Gael’s policy to call for a national pay freeze, as announced by the Party’s Leader Enda Kenny last November.

“Last November, Enda Kenny called for the suspension of the national pay deal through 2009. Deputy Kenny subsequently said the pay freeze should cover 2010 as well. Support from other quarters was not forthcoming. Four months later, the construction industry has withdrawn from Partnership and IBEC has now called for the pay deal to be suspended. …[more]

Last week, Fine Gael devoted its Private Members time to a motion on the current unemployment crisis. My speech on the debate can be found below the fold, while the debate in full can be accessed from the Oireachtas website (the debate was over Tuesday and Wednesday).

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Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s true colours have been exposed after it emerged that he leapt back into bed with the construction industry by allowing developers to continue charging what they like for major construction projects, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has said.

“This revelation is an insult to taxpayers who are now facing one of the most draconian Budgets since the 1980s. Brian Lenihan abandoned a key Government commitment to secure value for money in major construction projects by exempting €150 million worth of contracts from value-for-money requirements. …[more]

Fine Gael Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has called on the Government to wake up to the threat facing the economy after the CSO revealed the single biggest downturn in construction jobs in living memory.

“The Government and some economic commentators are being disingenuous by suggesting that the downturn in the construction sector will not impact on the wider economy. The CSO’s November construction employment index is significant because it shows that construction employment fell by a startling 10% in just four months between July and November, and has now fallen below 2000 levels. Moreover, a survey by Ulster Bank shows that the construction downturn has spread from the housing sector to the commercial and civil engineering sectors. This is the sharpest deterioration in the construction sector in living memory.

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