James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste, the Minister of State and their departmental officials. Brexit is a huge challenge but, as Deputy Neville said, the financial crash we experienced a number of years ago was also a huge challenge and many people wrote the country off and said it could not succeed in getting out of it. We were laughed out of court when it was said that we would create 100,000 jobs but that has been done and surpassed.

I congratulate the Ministers on the ongoing success in reducing unemployment and increasing the number of people at work. I welcome the approach regarding ConnectIreland, which made a strong presentation to the committee. It has a role in creating more jobs and, given the challenges that we face, we need to avail of every strand of job creation.

As opposed to their numbers, I acknowledge the quality of people working in Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and elsewhere. It is important. It is probably a good sign of the economy being so strong that all of the quality people are already gainfully employed and we must tease them back to the Department and Enterprise Ireland to help us attract more jobs.

The figures for the cost of job creation that the Tánaiste mentioned do not just reflect what she alluded to, but also the attractiveness of Ireland as a country in which to live and work. That is due to societal change and an approach to the value of work. The Government is right to discuss increasing the threshold for the marginal rate to make work more valuable for people instead of increasing the base cost for prospective employers. Let people take more money home in their pockets and give them more disposable pay. People will argue that we need more money for services, which we do. Thanks to the approach that has been taken, though, we actually have more money now. In every sector, more money is being invested in many services.

I wish to raise with the Tánaiste an issue that has significant potential to create further jobs in tourism, namely, greenways. The Tánaiste and the Chairman will be aware of the greenway in Waterford. The classic one is in Mayo and cost €12 million to put in place but returned that amount in one year. Greenways present opportunities for coastal routes in north County Dublin, particularly given the train stations. People could cycle out from the city. The 27 million people arriving at the airport would have somewhere to go. Cafes, restaurants and other businesses would spring up along the route. It is a stunning, coastal route. This is a no-brainer. I hope that the Tánaiste will use her undoubted powers of persuasion on the Minister for Finance to ensure that extra money is invested in greenways. I do not just mean for north Dublin, but for a pot of money. Previously, I called for €200 million to develop greenways.

From the Global Economic Forum of a number of years ago, we know that there is an ever-increasing population of people between the ages of 60 and 80 years who are relatively wealthy, well and healthy, and are looking for entertainment and things to do. Walking and cycling are the sorts of thing that interest them. Flipping it over to the younger population of Dublin, for people to be able to go for a cycle with their families in safety is difficult to do now. Rural roads are not safe for that type of cycling and the city is not inviting in that regard. A safe cycleway along the coast of north County Dublin or all the way back to the south county - that would not bother me - would have societal gains from the point of view of families being outside and exercising together. All of that is positive. I did not want to let the opportunity pass without mentioning it.