Mr. John Murphy:

I will reply to some of the points and I will then hand over to Mr. Shanahan and anyone else among our number who may wish to comment.

I will deal with the points in the order in which they were raised. Deputy Conaghan stated that we should focus on what has been achieved as well as on the negative. I hardly expected him to disagree with that. There is no room for complacency. When the economy starts to recover, we must be careful that we do not allow cost or other pressures to get out of hand. We will, therefore, be keeping a very close focus on that. We are conscious that there are significant pockets of disadvantage and categories within the labour force that have not benefited as much as we would like. We need to keep addressing those and identifying what works. In the context of ICT skills, for example, we have had considerable success in terms of increasing the number of graduates. We have overachieved on the targets that were set. However, there is a significant demand for people who do not necessarily need degree qualifications. Rather, these individuals must be tech savvy and, critically, they must be employable. As a result, they need to possess other skills. We must focus on this aspect to the same degree that we focus on the number of projects involved or whatever. A large number of people, including individuals on the live register, who might well be highly tech savvy and who think the only jobs in the area of ICT are for graduates. That is actually not true. It is important to foster very good communications between industry, education providers and the labour market - I include the Department of Social Protection in this regard - in order that we might identify suitable people, make them ready and put them forward, at the levels to which I refer as well as at the higher levels.

The Deputy is absolutely correct that there is potential in terms of the social economy. Mr. Shanahan referred to this matter earlier. We do not control some of the policy levers or instruments that can be used. There are already quite a number of Exchequer measures in place which can support the social economy or which are already supporting it. However, it is not all necessarily as well joined up as should be the case. That is one of the particular difficulties in the sector. I am of the view that we are not maximising the value of Leader, Pobal and the other smaller initiatives that exist. We do not own those levers and, quite frankly, I have no desire to own them in light of what we have on our plate at present.

Deputy Lawlor referred to keeping up the pressure in respect of the cost base. As already indicated, we are very conscious of the need to do that. He inquired about who we are working with in respect of red tape. We like to refer to it as the "administrative burden". We have been working on measures to simplify that burden on business. An exercise was carried out across Government in respect of an EU target relating to reducing the administrative burden on business by 25%. We have met that target, as have a number of other Departments. The remaining Departments have found it more difficult to do so. This is something we will be continuing to pursue.

In the context of ensuring that businesses are aware of what is available, I must admit that I have not read any of the books in the For Dummies series but perhaps I should. Ensuring that people have the right information at the right time is a constant issue. There will be a particular challenge for the LEOs in the context of putting in place first-stop shops which bring together the resources of local authorities which relate to all of the issues which can arise for someone starting a business, including planning, rates and various other administrative requirements. Then there is the issue of start-up capital for these individuals. The Chairman referred to someone who has an idea about a product or service but who does not have much else going for him or her. It is exactly this kind of person which the county enterprise boards, which are going to become the LEOs, are designed to help, including through the provision of low-level funding for feasibility studies. If people are serious about going into business, then they must get beyond merely having an idea and reach the point where they can draw up effective business plans and either present them to banks in order to obtain funding or secure other forms of financing from, for example, the microfinance initiative. There is a fair amount of work to be done but the LEOs should act as the filter in this regard. County enterprise boards have been doing it for the past 20 years.