Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we are having a discussion about the bad things that might happen in the jobs market, and the level of employment within the country, we should acknowledge that it is in the context of a very high level of employment in an economy that is performing very well. If we are approaching a shock like the one we may have to deal with, to have an economy that is growing quickly and growing in a very diversified way, is one of the best ways in which we could approach a period of uncertainty.

Deputy O'Brien can imagine that we would be having a very different debate if we had 8% unemployment in the country and an economy that was growing at 1% or 2%. The first thing that we can do in trying to deal with the issue to which the Deputy refers is have an economy that is growing quickly and a high level of employment within the country. That is in place.

In response to the question on what we would do, the first thing we would try to do is work with companies and sectors to try to avoid or minimise employment being shed in the first place before we even begin to engage in the phase to which the Deputy refers. We will have to work in particular with the agriculture and food sectors of the economy to see what can be done if employment is shed and to see how we can deal with it. We will have to go back to the kind of work that we have done recently whereby we look at the kind of retraining work that can be done, or we will look at how we can have investment in place to create other forms of work. In the debate that we have had so far about what funding is unallocated, it should be acknowledged that we have €700 million of additional capital investment planned for next year. That is to deal with the point Deputy O'Brien raises in the event of somebody losing his or her job due to something happening in a company or a project. We are generating other forms of economic activity through increasing capital investment that creates the possibility for people to move into another job. That is what we are aiming to do.