Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Ryan and his colleagues for attending this meeting. I thank the staff of Enterprise Ireland for the tremendous work they have done over the past several years as we attempt to rebuild and recreate our economy. The statistics and information contained in the annual report and accounts for 2011 make it clear that the economy is being repositioned from people selling houses and property to each other to Irish companies selling their wares abroad. Great credit must go to Enterprise Ireland and its staff for their success in recent years. The €15.2 billion exported by client companies in 2011 was more than the pre-recession amounts in 2008. Equally, new export sales from Irish client companies, at €2.4 billion in 2011, was the highest ever level of gain. I also pay tribute to the agency's efforts to link with businesses and expositions. I recently attended the Showcase expo in the RDS, where the engagement of Enterprise Ireland with what have traditionally been small local businesses involved in craft production was very encouraging. The agency spoke to these business about the potential for their wares to be promoted on the global stage.

However, a number of questions need to be addressed in order to establish that everything is going well and to find out if there is anything that can be improved. Given our dependence on Enterprise Ireland to deliver, we need to be careful that complacency does not set in. In reading the annual report I was struck by the figures with regard to the cost of creating a job. The cost per job was €11,761 between 1996 and 2002; €4,385 between 2000 and 2006; and €12,024 between 2005 and 2011. The first question that springs to mind when looking at these figures from a remove is why has it become more expensive to create a job.