Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for their attendance. The agenda is broad at the National Competitiveness Council, but it strikes me that employment and job creation are periphery to this agenda. The agenda states that the European Commission is urging member states to recognise the central importance of industry for getting jobs and growth. That is Andrex puppy stuff; everybody loves it. Where are the specifics in respect of job creation? The four Commission communications are for a European industrial renaissance, a vision for an internal market for industrial products, energy prices and costs in Europe, and a policy framework for climate and energy. Are there job creation targets associated with each of those communications? Or are they just waffle statements with very nice English? Has a SWOT analysis been done on the implementation of the Commission directives that might cost jobs in some member states? Surely job creation and job protection should be at the heart of all of those communications. I do not get a sense of it from this.

Can the Minister provide an update on the state aid modernisation AOB item? What is its potential impact on Ireland and our current state aid regime? I am glad the Minister is going to introduce the "reshoring" industry agenda, but the UK has implemented a very successful strategy in recent months. There was a very good report last night about reshoring industry back into the UK, even heavy manufacturing, which we were told was gone in that country. Have we learned from that so that Ireland can bring back manufacturing jobs that may have been lost to other countries in recent years? Is there a strategy in place for doing that?