Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will, briefly. It will be difficult to respond because that was a comprehensive tour de forceby the Deputy, although I thank him for his comments. I acknowledge what he said about the recognition issue. We will seek to deal with that as quickly as possible but I do not envisage it will be a budget day issue. We need proper engagement with trade unions and employer bodies to come up with a considered response to this issue. Otherwise, we run the risk of significant divisions in society on the back of it. I look at the email traffic coming into my consistency office, as I am sure the Deputy too does every day, and many people are expressing a view on this issue. It is fair to say there is not a consensus but rather a wide set of views on the matter. That is not a reason to address it, which we will do, but we need to give it careful consideration.

I worked in the private sector and I think I have a good understanding of how our economy and our society work. When I listen to all the demands in the House every day for additional public spending, I know those demands can only be met, in part, if we generate the revenues in our economy to pay for them. We are dependent on taxation revenues being generated by a strong, enterprise-based economy. That is what gives us the funding to have good public services and a decent society underpinned by those services. I understand that and it is why I have no hesitation in engaging directly with employers, for whom I have great respect. The sacrifices many of them make are extraordinary. They take very significant risks, in many instances putting their personal home on the line, as the Deputy well knows, in order to take on debt to invest in their business and not all the businesses work. Many of them fail and people are left with major legacy issues as a result. I have tried to help people in all sorts of circumstances where they gave it a go. We should encourage people to give it a go. We want an entrepreneurial culture in Ireland and I think we have one. We just need to ensure the State does not get in the way but is there to help people and support them. That is the perspective I bring to being in government.

My Department works closely with the construction industry. We have a construction sector group, for example, which meets regularly and involves officials in my Department and also those representing the industry and the professions. It is about listening to them and coming up with solutions. I have never built a house, so I of course listen to people who have built houses and know what the issues are in getting that work done. We in the Dáil are not going to build any houses; we will build them by providing support to local authorities and approved housing bodies and by providing support to, and enabling infrastructure for, the private sector. There is much talk about building houses but very little talk about putting in place the water, the wastewater infrastructure and the other services needed to build homes. That is an important aspect.

The Deputy raised a fundamental question about getting more people with direct private sector experience into politics. There are some but more are needed, as is more mobility into and out of politics. We need people to come into politics with life experience and a full career behind them of getting things done in the private sector and who are willing to offer themselves in the interests of public service. I want to see more of that rather than less, and that is a challenge for all of us. Perhaps it is about the way we do politics and the challenges involved in being in public life now that some people simply would not tolerate.