Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Byrne makes an important point. We are currently recruiting abroad to meet some of the skills shortages in the technology sector, which appears to indicate a lack of foresight in our educational system. While I accept it is not easy to predict exactly where jobs will arise, a gap appears to have emerged in this regard. I hear much discussion and hype about The Gathering. While I admit it is a good initiative, it is also a transient one in that its benefits will be felt this year only, with perhaps a small spillover into next year arising from the advertising campaign. With one quarter of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years unemployed, we clearly need a much more productive approach to the area of employment.

I note that a number of private equity companies are focusing on Ireland. These are primarily funds that wish to invest in property because they believe the sector will deliver significant profits in future arising from the property crash. While it is easy for the media to criticise many of the entrepreneurs who were involved in the construction industry, they provided a large number of jobs. Unfortunately, much of the profit that will be made from the depressed property market will be repatriated to other countries through the involvement of private equity companies. Some minor efforts appear to be under way to persuade private equity companies to put together enterprise funds to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises with a view to generating jobs and growth. Efforts to provide good mentoring and management can be as beneficial as financial supports. Donald Keough, the former chief executive of Coca Cola, was instrumental in the company's decision to invest in Ireland. He thought all the investment should be focused on Wexford, from where his ancestors came, and we now have a Coca Cola plant in the county.

I concede he is a good actor but recently we saw Tom Cruise coming across as genuinely chuffed by the fact of his Irish ancestry and genealogy. What are we doing within the Department to identify in different countries, in particular in the United States which is entrepreneurial, good executives whose career paths we can see as they get to the top of major corporations and whose Irish background we can identify for them? By the time they get here they will then have a certain grá and empathy for Ireland. In that way the commitment we have seen in the past will continue well into the future in the face of the considerable opposition we face from other countries for such mobile investment, in particular from the US and China.