mr president this afternoon we have listened to yourself and others make statements on the terrible situation in gaza and on the need for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of israeli armed forces from gaza
i must say that in this context i agree with mr cohn-bendit that parliament should take a position we cannot sit on the fence
however in a way it is a bit mundane to speak about bread-and-butter issues having listened to all that has been said but of course bread-and-butter issues concern all our citizens
last weekend in ireland the announcement by dell that it was relocating two zero jobs came as a body-blow to the community in the mid-west and west of ireland
at a time when we are experiencing a global financial downturn this is especially difficult for workers directly employed by dell and for its suppliers etc
in this context the european globalisation fund could prove to be especially important to help retrain and reskill workers and to assist in the promotion of entrepreneurship for self-employment
it is crucial that the irish government makes an immediate application to the globalisation fund so that workers can have some faith in the future and see that the eu is working to assist all workers and in this case those in the west and mid-west of ireland
