Joe O'Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in welcoming the witnesses. It is great to meet them in Ireland and I hope they have an enjoyable stay and a productive exchange of views in Dublin and elsewhere. We are anxious to maintain strong links with our German counterparts. We have strong links in culture, trade and tourism.

As Senator Healy Eames noted, we have recently introduced a property tax for local government. The tax was born out of our economic difficulties but one of its happy results will be a strengthening of local government, contrary to popular conception. For the first time, local politicians will set the level of the tax, control expenditure and be accountable to the people for the money. We never had proper local government previously. It is an ironic advantage arising from the recession.

Unemployment, specifically youth unemployment, is the great challenge facing all countries in Europe. For this reason I would be happy to hear that the witnesses support the continuation of stimulus measures, the youth guarantee and other direct supports for European economies to create employment. Governments need to be actively involved, apart from the private sector, in creating jobs. A stimulus package is needed in this respect and I hope for a positive response.

I am interested in what the witnesses have to say about energy policy in their state given that nuclear energy has been ruled out at government level. How are alternative energies being progressed, has there been much success in this regard and how are the economics working out?