David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Secretary General and his team. Again I too commend them on their role during the Presidency.

The overarching theme of the presentation is to promote sustainable economic growth and jobs. We all accept that and want to see it realised. There is an obvious relationship between economic growth and job creation. If we are to reach the very modest job creation targets which the Department has set, we must see improved growth figures in this State and across Europe. My view is that economic growth has not been great in Europe in the past six months. It certainly has not been great in this State. I met the troika on behalf of my party when they were in town last week. It was of the view that the figures for the first quarter of this year and the early indications of the first half of this year were negative. That creates a problem. If we are not achieving real sustainable economic growth, it is unlikely we will reach job creation targets. That is important. While growth is the overarching objective, the reality in Europe unfortunately is different.

In regard to Horizon 2020, my understanding is that the State's overall target for spending was 3% of GDP. Are we reaching that percentage? What percentage are we currently achieving? The Secretary General also referred to Horizon 2020 and that SME participation in relevant areas should be increased from 15% to 20%. What are we achieving at present? We need to have the baseline figures so that we can benchmark them against the objectives. Are we realising our targets? I believe we should support the small and medium sized enterprises in the area of research and development and accessing EU and global markets. Much work remains to be done in that area. If we are to set targets, we need to have a sense of the present position.

The proposed equity facility for growth phase investment was referred to in the opening statement. Will this equity facility be over or below the interest rate of current bank lending? We had a problem with the micro-enterprise loan fund. Unfortunately, the take-up rate in some regions was low. From the discussions I had with the enterprise boards across the south east region, among the issue raised was that the scheme was not attractive enough as the interest rates were too high. We need to get that right. If we are to introduce schemes designed to help SMEs, they must be attractive and relevant and the take up rate among SMEs should be at a proper level so that they avail of the supports being given to them.

The youth guarantee is one of the major achievements of the Presidency but we need to see it rolled out and add value not only in regard to training and education but job opportunities for people. There is a tendency for us to fall back on education and training when the jobs are not there but our focus must be on jobs. If the youth guarantee is rolled out have we any indication of the time frame for people getting a job and having a genuine career pathway when they participate in a youth guarantee scheme? I am sure the Secretary General will be aware that this committee published a substantial report on the youth guarantee, as did the Joint Committee on European Affairs. Have the officials studied that report and considered the raft of recommendation we would have made which would underpin the Department's approach to rolling out its programme?

Is there greater scope for state aid for manufacturing industries? A related issue is regional aid. I am aware that the maps and guidelines for regional aid are being re-examined. I am from the south east and I make no apologies for continuously raising the fact that the region is under performing with high unemployment levels. When I look at the regional aid guidelines, the south east as a sub-region should be on a par with the BMW region. Is that being considered?

Notwithstanding the gender imbalance of the delegation, there is a need to do more in terms of women entrepreneurs and do what we can to help and assist them, especially we need to look at intervention and supports at the early level. We need strategies to target young people.

My final point - I made this point to the Minister when he has appeared before the committee - is that the Department must work in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills to look at second and third level education and to foster a spirit of creativity and innovation. While we are all going for the immediate wins, we need to focus on the long term so as to ensure there is a generation of young people who are geared to innovation and creativity. There is a role for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to work with the Department of Education and Skills on this as well.