Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I have found the discussion very interesting. All three speakers who have given us an insight are a reminder to me that there is no magic wand, no one thing we can do, and that it will have to come from all of the different areas.

I will concentrate on one area suggested by a reference Mr. O'Connor made to job creation. I believe not nearly enough is being done to encourage entrepreneurship. I did not even hear the word today, although Ms Halligan perhaps referred to it. I am talking about the possibility of saying to somebody they would start their own business. It is so interesting to go to the United States and find that people there assume a person will start their own business, although it may be only a very small one or the person might only be at school when he or she starts it. However, in order to do that, we have to give people the opportunity to expand.

The witnesses all referred to languages, in particular Ms Halligan, who referred to primary, secondary and third level. I believe we have not done nearly enough in this area. If we can manage to instil in people the fun, the excitement and the joy of having another language, it gives them the first step in that direction.

As I have mentioned previously, I was in Drogheda last year and met two men who were unemployed. I asked them what they had done and they said they had written away and they asked what more they could do. I then came home and met two young men of a similar age who knocked on my door to sell car cleaning products. These two students did very well and later sold on their business to somebody else. It seems there is a different culture in the United States and among some people in Ireland who say "I assume my job is not going to be created for me by somebody else."

What can we as a State do? We can encourage entrepreneurship. I previously mentioned Mr. Jerry Kennelly from Tralee, who sold his business but wanted to stay in Kerry, so he put his money into entrepreneurship education for transition year students. Each year he has over 600 students come to Tralee having been trained in entrepreneurship. I sat beside a young lady who, at 15 years of age, started her own business and is now selling her product on the Internet to 22 countries. She is now 16 and has only one employee, her father. The idea was given there that people should not assume the State or somebody else is going to create a job for them and that they should give some thought to creating their own job. If we can manage to instil entrepreneurship in students at school, we have a much better chance of getting through this.