Mr. Eoin Costello:

I thank Deputy John Lyons for his questions. I will deal with my personal experience in terms of An Action for Jobs. I am programme manager at New Frontiers in the Dublin Institute of Technology which has a fantastic programme. When I was building Novara technology in the front bedroom of my house or when we were building the family jewellery business, there were no similar programmes available. Ireland, in terms of programmes and the availability of supports, is one of the best countries in the world in which to start a business. However, there are obstacles and issues. At the same time, there are amazing supports available. The New Frontiers programme is a national brand and co-ordinated. There is an increasingly dense network of connections evolving from it and it is a really good programme.

The JobBridge programme that has emerged from An Action Plan for Jobs has been extremely good. The great thing about it is that it comes back to learning by doing. Instead of talking or learning academically about something, what it does is that it helps in giving people skills. I know that there are cases in the media. However, in my experience, working with the start-ups using our incubator and working with a number of JobBridge programme interns, it has been a fantastic way to give them the skills they need and to help us in delivering on more ambitious goals. That is my experience of what the Government has done well and right in the past couple of years.