Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I accept the Minister and the Department are busy. The point I was trying to make in regard to the administration of the Department in its entirety was that there is a difference between being busy and outputs. Where I would have issues in regard to the Minister's work is in regard to outputs. He mentioned that the issue of job creation has not reached every door and I made the point that it actually has not reached many doors. The critical issues, the metrics by which he is judged, are the overall unemployment levels, long-term unemployment levels, underemployment, emigration - all those facts. In 2010, eight months before Fianna Fáil left Government, the unemployment rate had stabilised at approximately 14%. It is not really far off that level now, two and a half years into the Minister's administration. The problems that were there when he came to Government are still there. Demand is flat and there is a lack of both public and private stimulus in that credit is not available.

No matter how much tinkering is done around the edges, the core fact is that the banks are not working with private enterprise as required. The competitive advantage that the State needs to achieve enterprise development, for example, the cost base, including utility and legal costs, is suffering inertia. The Government gives heavy weighting to foreign direct investment, FDI, over indigenous enterprise, wherein 78% of employment lies. Instead of tinkering around the edges, the Government needs to do more to affect the central areas of economic growth.

The microenterprise situation is disappointing. By dint of experience, many among the unemployed will set up small businesses. The county enterprise board-local enterprise office, CEB-LEO, crisis has been ongoing since 2008. The CEBs and LEOs do not know what is happening from one year to the next. The former enterprise Minister, Batt O'Keeffe, stated in 2008 that he would replace the CEOs, yet no legislation has been presented. The process has worked against the wishes of the representative bodies of small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs.

We have banged on, so to speak, about these matters. Ireland has the fourth highest cost of electricity and diesel and our rental costs remain stubbornly high. Until these major influences on competitive advantage and demand creation are tackled, we will see only marginal changes.