Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

STEM subjects comprise one of the areas that Science Foundation Ireland is pushing. That is one of the areas that I will push at every meeting and opening I attend. I assure the Deputy that when I meet these companies and we announce jobs, they often tell me that innovation expertise is so important. We build up that human capital and our programmes work in creating jobs. The proof is in the pudding because unemployment has fallen from 15.1% to approximately 8.2%. We will ensure that trend continues. There are now 2 million people working in this country. Some 40% of IDA companies report that innovation is one of the reasons they come here.