Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus go raibh maith agaibh as an gcur láthair. I notice that the Minister has not got his football team in with him today, so it looks like the Croke Park agreement is perhaps being implemented.

I wish to acknowledge a few of the positive points of progress. Obviously, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA have been doing good work on creating jobs. Irish exports have also been increasing, even though the level of unemployment has not been falling in proportion to those export increases. Good work has been done on enterprise loans, micro-finances and licences.

In many ways, however, there is a lot in this plan that is not new. Point 59, for example, deals with monitoring lending targets of the two pillar banks. Point 63 concerns promoting awareness of the understanding of Government-supported funding. Point 126 refers to establishing an interdepartmental group to consider further possible measures to assist the retail sector.

Some of the points in the action plan are airy-fairy, to say the least. It is important to say, however, that governments do create jobs. This committee needs to get away from the idea that governments do not create jobs. The Government is the biggest employer in the country. The retrofitting incentives, announced by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, involve money that has a direct effect on creating jobs.

The key performance indicator that we cannot get away from is the number of jobs that the Minister's action plans create. There were 3,400 fewer jobs in the economy in the past year, so it is a net decrease. We often hear about these 12,000 new jobs but there has been a net reduction. By any means, therefore, it is not a positive outcome in that key performance indicator.

The Government makes a big point of saying that it has at least created stabilisation with regard to the unemployment figures. However, in July 2010, unemployment reached 14.1% and it has plateaued. That was eight months before the current Government took power, so unemployment has been in a plateau situation well in advance of these action plans and policies.

How many of the 12,000 new jobs in the private sector are temporary, part time or full time? When we focus on the likes of ICT, we must not get befuddled by that sector. It is an important growth area but it accounts for 4.2% of the working population, which is a very small segment of the economy.

I often get frustrated when buzzwords creep into the lexicon of job creation, such as "cloud computing" and "big data". They are seen as a panacea for problems, whereas in fact they are tiny opportunities in the whole scheme of things. All opportunities must be chased vigorously but those are very small ones.

Regional disparities are important to this committee. We have created a jobs plan to focus revenues into areas of greatest need. Some 2% of the jobs created in the past year covered 49% of the population. Therefore, half the population of the State saw 2% of actual job increases, which is a phenomenal figure.

The original action plan had a commitment that 50% of jobs created would be outside the Dublin and Cork regions, but that is not happening. I do not think that commitment is being repeated, but the Minister can correct me if I am wrong. Will the Government try to retain that 50% commitment of FDI outside Dublin and Cork? How will the Minister tackle those regional disparities?

Broadband is a critical issue in this economy, which is behind most of our competitors with regard to the geographical spread involved. That, in turn, affects the ability of regions to compete for jobs.

A number of points were made about procurement. In launching this committee's jobs plan, the Chairman focused on social clauses in Government procurement, which Sinn Féin has already mentioned. I do not see that in the Minister's action plan, however.

One of Sinn Féin's initiatives is to actively introduce indigenous small business and FDI, but this is not being done in the State's area of operation. Perhaps the Minister can tell us why that is not the case.

Upward-only rents, no commitments on rates and no addressing of utility costs can all negatively affect competitiveness. Last Friday, the Chairman, Deputy English, and I met with the management of Tara Mines who told us that their annual electricity bill of approximately €20 million had increased by €3.2 million this year. Those utility costs are nailing companies that will then start to focus on wage costs, which obviously has a negative effect.

Not enough work is being done to tackle cartels in this State, although I know there is a lot involved in that issue. In addition, this committee has focused on the youth guarantee, but youth unemployment remains a matter of concern. Meanwhile, efforts to ameliorate youth unemployment have gained great traction across Europe.