Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for coming here this afternoon. Any discussion of the outputs of their Department would have to give due praise to the Action Plan for Jobs. As the Minister has highlighted, the OECD has commended his Department and officials on their work in this area. A target of creating 100,000 jobs was very ambitious in 2011. The fact that we have exceeded the target by creating 126,000 jobs is a real testament to the work done. Our earlier subject was job creation, which I know I should not refer to now, but the creation of jobs says it all. Let us look at services right across the board in health and education, where having people in jobs will have huge positive implications for the country.

The Minister has made reference to the challenges and opportunities moving forward. I ask him to outline, in terms of his Department's performance, what we can do to cement recovery and ensure that we move on to the next level.