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

I will get the ball rolling. The Deputy asked about the scenarios and the impact on the job market. The Minister for public expenditure is doing a lot of work on the impact of our infrastructure plan on creating an environment in which more homes can be built. On tariffs, we modelled on the basis of a 10% rate between the EU and the US. Since then, we have seen figures that are a lot higher. At that point, that was the tariff level that was somewhat expected. The other tariff assumption is 60% between the US and China. From a jobs point of view, in the adverse scenario we outlined for next year, that would mean 25,000 fewer jobs being created than we would have otherwise expected. Across the medium term, we said that figure could be between 50,000 and 75,000 fewer jobs not created or lost. As the Deputy said, that would point to a lower level of employment growth compared to a level of employment that is already historically high. We have to assess if that is a realistic scenario as we work our way through the coming months. On the scale of the workforce in construction, it is around 6%. There was a high of 15%. On whether we will have enough workers to build the homes needed, it will be a big challenge but we can grow well beyond 6%. That is why our apprenticeship work is so important. The Minister for public expenditure will be able to outline clearly his ambition on behalf of the Government, which I support, to give a clear vision on infrastructure investment in the years ahead. That is the best chance to grow the number of people available to work in that pipeline by encouraging them to move around in our economy or to come back home through large employers that may have workers based elsewhere in Europe.