Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Secretary General and his officials here this afternoon. I compliment the Department and the Minister on the successful implementation of the measures and initiatives of Action Plan for Jobs 2013, and the previous jobs action plans. What initiatives does Mr. Murphy feel have had the greatest impact on job creation or selling the environment to create jobs? Are there any key recommendations that have not been implemented, or not fully implemented? What would be Mr. Murphy’s priority in that regard?

In the 2013 plan Mr. Murphy referred to business trading online. One would support the idea to increase the number of businesses trading online. I made a submission on the 2014 plan regarding the rural economy and broadband. There are many businesses that still do not have the basic rural broadband. The ESB (Electronic Communications Networks) Bill 2013 was published last week, which will allow the piggybacking of communications infrastructure on the network. That is a welcome development. There is a lot of work in that area. Are there any specific recommendations for the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources? The previous national broadband plan looked well and I appreciate it was a realistic attempt, but it was not successful. Many areas were mapped as having adequate broadband cover but the reality on the ground was not that good. That should be a key recommendation for the whole area of rural business.

When the committee focused on the rural economy, we did a tour, visiting several towns, including Ballinrobe, Castlebar and Ballinasloe, to investigate some of the problems retailers have. Part of the focus was on the black market. We passed on our reports and recommendations. Are they feeding into the process? Will the rural economy receive any particular attention in the forthcoming action plan?