Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I would like to thank Deputy Tóibín for acknowledging that there is real progress going here.

I refer to the success of Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and export-led recovery in the context of the creation of 10,000 net jobs - 25,000 gross - between the IDA and Enterprise Ireland this year. Consequently, we are really making good progress and have record exports. The Deputy complains that the stabilisation of our employment figures suggests we are getting nowhere. While his inference is this merely constitutes stability, the truth is otherwise. As I noted, our export sectors are adding 25,000 gross jobs in those two sectors alone and tourism is adding more jobs. Unfortunately, we still have the consolidation that must happen in the public service and is happening in domestic banking, as well as continuing job losses in the construction sector. Consequently, sectors in our economy still are in decline. My point is we have successfully taken in hand the Enterprise Ireland and the IDA sectors, which lost 45,000 jobs in the years from 2008 to 2013 but which now are expanding. This constitutes a major change within the export-oriented sector, and the long-term recovery of the economy obviously depends on those sectors outstripping the declines in the other sectors as they gradually stabilise. What is happening is more dramatic than the Deputy suggests. While it may look like stability on the surface, there are sectors that are doing extremely well. They are the sectors we have targeted and are long-term sustainable growth sources in the economy. While we need to find stability in construction, which is another set of problems, the steps we set out to do, namely, to build enterprise, innovation and exports, are delivering an impact.

As for the reason the overall figure is minus 4,000, obviously it is due to 16,000 jobs being lost in the public service. There has been an increase of 12,000 in the private sector and a reduction of 16,000 in the public sector. I do not have to hand the mix of part-time and full-time jobs. Some break-out of the figures probably is included in the quarterly national household survey, but I do not have it to hand. In itself, the information, communications and technology, ICT, sector in itself employs approximately 100,000 people and is growing very rapidly. It also is an area of skills shortage in which, had we more people, more jobs could be added. However, ICT is also of strategic importance outside its own sector. The successful business models of the future will be those that bring ICT skills into their own domains. For instance, successful tourism businesses will be smart e-enabled businesses, and that will be true throughout the economy. Consequently, it is somewhat simplistic simply to state the sector is a little pigeonhole. ICT is having a much wider impact than that.

The issue of regional targets is really challenging. There are two parts to this issue. Enterprise Ireland companies have a very good regional spread, and the outside of Dublin figure is approximately 75%. However, the IDA has not been able to reach the 50% target. While it obviously continues to pursue that target, it is becoming more difficult because of an increasing emphasis on sectors in which there is a competitive edge for the deeper urban labour pools and so on. We are trying to ascertain how this can be diversified. Last year, in a process that will deepen this year, the Department started to examine the supply chain of multinational companies to establish whether opportunities exist to take Enterprise Ireland companies, which have a good regional spread, and get better revenue in this regard. The Department reckons there is approximately €500 million of additional global sourcing that could be considered. This year, it will undertake a systematic programme to go through companies that have the potential to increase their global sourcing within Ireland and seeks to work with them by having what might be called a trade mission at home, in which our good companies will be brought into supply chains that are already here. That is one initiative like the other initiatives such as ConnectIreland or targeting the emerging companies through which the Department hopes to achieve a better regional spread.

As for the social clauses, action No. 208 makes reference to it and the Department is examining them. As the Deputy rightly stated, under European Union procurement rules, one can have certain social clauses. I know the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Brian Hayes, is carrying out work in that area and it is hoped it will yield something of value. On the issue of cartels, the Competition Authority has been beefed up this year as ten additional people are going into the authority to do exactly what the Deputy asks, namely, to have a stronger enforcement capability within the Competition Authority to take on anti-competitive behaviour wherever it is found, and that will be in place.

The Deputy raised the issue of utility costs and, obviously, the cost of something like electricity is a really significant issue. While it is not my area of responsibility, I understand the ESB has a significant cost reduction programme which it has negotiated with its unions and which is being implemented. Obviously, the cost of energy in Ireland reflects its dependence on fossil fuels, and while Ireland has a long-term exposure to or reliance on fossil fuels, it also is driving to diversify its energy sources. There has been a review carried out of the regulatory regime across all those utilities to ascertain whether the mandates given to the regulators in several of these sectors can be reframed and whether this can be better managed. I believe these were the main issues that were raised.