David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned the upward only rents and property rights. In both the Dáil and the Seanad, during the debate on the IBRC legislation, we set aside property rights without compensation so it can be done if the political will exists. This features in discussions any of us have with employers, particularly in the retail sector, where we lost 50,000 jobs in the past four years. I have no doubt the cost of doing business, including the cost of rents, is part of that.

The Minister said we need to be more ambitious. If we look at the figures since this Government entered office, there has not been the increase in jobs we were promised. The Minister mentioned 16,000 jobs gone in the public sector last year and 12,000 net jobs created in the private sector, a total loss of 4,000 jobs. While we might be doing well in some areas, overall the jobs strategy is failing. We are simply not creating jobs in any significant numbers.

I am concerned that in response to a direction question on the 50% target for FDI outside Dublin and Cork, the Minister failed to say categorically that it will be retained. The south east is suffering disproportionately. We have 25% unemployment in Waterford city, with youth unemployment of over 35%, and a general figure of 19% across the south east. We need a suite of interventions to make sure we can create the necessary jobs even to reach the unacceptable levels we have in the State overall and I am concerned that we are not reaching those targets. The only way we will arrive at a situation where we can deal with those regional disparities is that the issue be driven at Cabinet level by the Minister and that it then seeps down into the enterprise agencies and stakeholders so we can join up the different efforts. That simply is not happening in the south east and other regions that are suffering disproportionately. I appeal to the Minister to look at that and ensure that where there are strong regional disparities and high levels of unemployment, more of a focus is placed on those areas. I also want him to support the call for more effort to be made on youth unemployment and entrepreneurship. In those areas that are suffering disproportionately, encouraging enterprise, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation through second and third level should be part of a long-term strategy for the Government across different Departments. If we focus on youth unemployment it would be a positive move. There are very real regional disparities that are at crisis levels and that must be dealt with.