Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The theme of the Irish Presidency has been stability, growth and jobs. Reading the dossiers to which the delegates refer in their introduction and hearing their comments today and the Minister’s comments yesterday, most of them seem to relate to what is called financial stability, banking union, supervision, economic surveillance and so on. Will they be more specific about where we are pursuing the latter two priorities of the Presidency, jobs and growth? What exactly have we discussed with our European partners in these two areas?

When we talk about the metrics of economic surveillance – I tried to make this point to the Minister yesterday – is unemployment examined, or is it all about deficits, debts and the so-called stability of the financial sector? Are there metrics to do with unemployment or employment levels when we are pursuing the jobs and growth agenda? It is talked about, but I cannot see much hard evidence that it is being taken seriously as an agenda item at these various gatherings.