Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Ministers. It was great to hear the presentation. We know it is a long way out from the budget and they cannot be specific on anything at this stage. I wish to discuss the employment situation predicted for next year. In the summary, there are charts depending on whether there are tariffs or not. Will the Minister for Finance indicate the thinking behind the tariff situation? What percentage tariffs, on average, were predicted to come up with those figures? I would like to focus on employment. What percentage of the workforce is involved in construction? We have to build houses and infrastructure. What has been the trend for construction workers in the economy? I think it is 7% or 8%; it used to be a lot higher years ago. There is always a temptation if there is an unsettled environment to cut capital expenditure because it does not affect people's pockets straight away but one reason we have a housing problem is we did not invest enough. I chair the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery. Capital expenditure must be maintained even though it is difficult if there are difficulties with the budget. Given the need for the number of houses we hope to build, are there enough people in the construction industry to do that? How many are working on housing versus offices, commercial, Irish Water, ESB and roads projects, etc? Are there enough people involved in housing? In table 7 of the report, the predicted increase in employment is much less than in the past couple of years. There is a slowdown in the increase in employment and the unemployment percentage may increase marginally. Given there is such a need for work to be done, why would there be a reduction in employment, especially given the housing crisis? We would like to see more employment because of the need. My questions are about employment.