Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is appropriate to congratulate the Minister on the great achievement in increasing employment levels. There is an inherent problem in terms of attitudes towards foreign direct investment and indigenous industry. We have had considerable success in developing indigenous industry, creating jobs and so on and it should be made clear to the rest of the world that this is as important as encouraging foreign direct investment. Since the 1950s, it has been the "sexy" bit.

We must encourage more entrepreneurs. We know from studies that early stage businesses create the most jobs. There is some scepticism in Departments in that they do not trust entrepreneurs. I do not want present company to take this personally, but when it comes to social welfare, maternity leave and so on, the employer or self-employed person has stricter rules applied to him or her as if he or she is up to something in claiming maternity benefit. As such, there is a major job to be done in the social welfare system. The fact that starting a business or being self-employed is a demanding way of life is ignored. Businesses cannot survive otherwise; it is not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. A string of penalties are applied to the self-employed but not to their employees.

We have to sort that out fast and get the message out that we want more business start-ups. We are doing the rapporteur study, the Chair has initiated the study on women entrepreneurs from this committee. It will highlight these points as we go along. The big, sexy companies like Glanbia are brilliant when they are expanding but they all started out small. I would like to see the Minister saying via megaphone that it is important to Ireland to develop our own indigenous companies, although we are delighted to have foreign direct investment and the 12.5% corporation tax rate is brilliant. We are standing on our heads to get them to come.

Regarding the self-employed, the Minister knows as well as I do that there are brakes on people from a social welfare point of view. The taxation system should be there to encourage more entrepreneurs. I must repeat that there is a negative attitude towards self-employed people in the Department. I am not being personal, there are very good people here, but others definitely feel the self-employed are up to something and do not trust them. It is a cultural thing and we have to get over it. When I was a teenager, to go into business or trade was seen as the pits, God almighty. It took us a good while to cop on that we needed it. It is still very much the attitude within the bureaucracy that they are up to something.

What can we say about indigenous industry? We want more Irish people whom we believe in and trust. How do we encourage them from a tax point of view? It is an even greater problem now, as the economy is turning, that people want to go and get good jobs in Google, Facebook and the likes. I was discussing it with my colleague, Connie Doody, who set up Lir Chocolates with me. She was wondering how involved in our society people working big jobs on big salaries in multi-nationals are. Are they so well paid and looked after? From my observation here in Leinster House, the management of people in the public sector does not seem to take account of the person. If someone goes into Google or something like that, management is going to be training them for the job, watching them develop. They need employees to do that. What is happening with the human person who comes in the door into the public sector? Are they encouraged to develop their career? Are they put into the job where they have the appropriate skill? We cannot afford to have a square peg in a round hole in private business. There is great potential for entrepreneurship in the public sector as well. We have had numerous examples of that and need more.

I congratulate the Minister on what he has done, although he dodged the emigration question a bit. I have been on to the Central Statistics Office trying to get the exact figures and we only have them up to April 2014. There are 1,600 people emigrating per week, 800 Irish and 800 non-Irish. Very few of them are coming back. The Taoiseach said last week that emigration has a devastating impact on our economy as we lose the input of people of talent and energy.

Finally, I will turn to the sidekick of the TILDA study in Trinity, in which the ESRI is looking at the effect of emigration on older parents and particularly the mothers, who see their children going off. It affects older people in particular to see their children going off and not wanting to come back. It affects their mental health and their happiness. Given all the ambition they had and sacrifices they made to send their children to university and to third level colleges, that must hurt. As the report says, it affects people's mental health and this leads to physical decline. We talk about the ones who emigrate, but what about the ones who are left at home, whose children have gone off? I presume emigration has decreased somewhat, but the official figures are still 1,600 a week.