Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Calleary for his comprehensive set of questions. It is true that the labour force fell and that we still have emigration. However, the latest figure we have is to April of last year and it shows a 30% decline, so emigration fell from approximately 34,000 to roughly 21,000. I believe the figure has come down since, and is still on the way down, but we await the figure to bear that out.

The only credible response to emigration is job creation. If we can continue to grow employment at this pace and with the targets the IDA, the local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland have set, we can deliver full employment over the next four years. The IDA and Enterprise Ireland targets, combined with a reasonable recovery in those other sectors, will deliver that for us but we must keep a sensible set of policies to deliver it. That is the response to emigration and I would have the ambition that we would see zero emigration over that four-year period.

In regard to the self-employed, we track how many remain as one-man bands and how many grow.

We track some of them. Most of the local enterprises grow to having more than one; typically they are two to three person enterprises. Equally, we see this with the competitive start funds and HPSUs. They are tracked and all have the capacity to grow more and, by and large, they deliver this. Some do not grow as rapidly as we would like, but we are tracking them and intend to become more forensic about it.

We believe survival and scaling are crucial. The CSO provides a good analysis of the cohort of start ups each year and how they grow. Interestingly, in that really tough period half of them perished, but the other half created 93,000 jobs. We are becoming more forensic and also trying to gear our policies to drive growth through mentoring. We are reviewing our mentoring strategies and, as part of the regional strategies, very keen to build more enterprise hubs to give start-ups a chance of surviving. One of the things we will be looking for in the regional bids is that they add value and create an environment in which these enterprises can grow.

If one looks at the QHNS and the increase in employment in the two years 2013 and 2014, all of the extra employment is full-time. The figures for part-time work actually declined. I do not accept, therefore, that the majority of jobs are part-time. In so far as we have data, they prove that most of the growth is in the level of full-time employment. Yes, there are 450,000 people working part time, but part-time work has always been a feature as it suits some people. However, we are growing the level of full-time employment. That is one of the features. In the last quarter it is interesting that there was a sharp fall in the numbers working part time. That is a pattern in a recovery that is picking up. Businesses might initially only take on people part time which then grows.

We are looking at zero hour contracts. The Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, issued a consultancy contract which the University of Limerick won. It will examine the extent of the problem in Ireland.

The Deputy is being less than fair to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. It is true that it is working initially through the pillar banks. In the first quarter it has signed up to deliver €400 million through them. However, the rest of its 2015 programme is to develop new products and new entrants. It definitely has a mandate to attract and support new entrants to the market. As that is a key part of its mandate, it is not just about the flow of money, as it were. As it is a wholesale bank, in the short term it is putting money through the established network, but its ambition clearly is to move well beyond this. It has set out its stall. They are longer term loans of up to ten years. They will be at a lower coupon rate and have a higher risk appetite. We will now have an arrangement whereby the credit guarantee can be a part of this, and I hope one can have an enhanced set of offerings. Obviously, it is working its way through.

We have a credit scheme. We are drafting the legislation, but, as I told Deputy Peadar Tóibín previously in the House, it has proved more complex than we had hoped. However, we have got over the problems with it and I expect it to move along quite swiftly. It will include any existing bank or new entrant; therefore, we are not confining it to existing banks. I hope, if there are new vehicles, it can be extended to them also. Clearly, that is our intention.