Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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It is slow. It is an educational process. It is about letting people see that to try and to fail is not the end of the world and getting more serial entrepreneurs. We also want to see more people supporting entrepreneurship in their own communities. I do not think official Ireland has some downer on the self-employed or small employers, but I take the Senator's point that we need to make that interaction, while absolutely legitimate, easier to do.

Our interactions, including the time it takes to get a work permit, the time it takes to get an employment case heard and the time it takes to form a company, are improving all the time. Within my Department I have set the expectation that we will continually improve those metrics because they are the key to the interface with small companies or those that might be forming.

I believe the Senator is looking at the gross figure for emigration and she needs to look at the net figure. There are always people who come and go, but the net figure, which hit a high of 35,000, is on the way down now; it was 21,000 at the last time it was recorded. The net flows are moderating, which is in accordance with us creating employment. The figures were at their peak when there was zero or negative jobs growth. Now as we see employment grow, they are coming down. The only way to get them down to zero is to have better employment growth and more opportunities at home.

The Senator raised a much bigger issue of developing talent in the public service. I would say the Secretary General would be better equipped to answer that. It has certainly been a difficult time in the public service. There have not been promotion opportunities and it has been very bottled up, which has an impact. However, to be fair there has been an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit, if one wants to call it that, in being willing to change systems. That is happening throughout. I see it in my Department, with all the agencies we have merged. We have changed working relationships across the board. It is there in both the public and private sector. It perhaps is not acknowledged as much as it should be in the public service.

Today, on the day that is in it, we should acknowledge the success of Pfizer, which has undergone an extraordinary adjustment. I know the unions, SIPTU and TEEU, have been very influential in getting a deal across the line that has allowed those jobs to be secured in Cork. It is a fantastic indication that people with their backs to the wall have been flexible, whether they have been in the public or private sector. That has been one of the success stories of this very difficult time, indicating that people have had the ingenuity to solve difficult problems.

I am reminded of the former Senator, Mr. Joe Lee. I am not sure if members have read his book. He used to say all we wanted was a safe job in the public service, a bit of land or a job in the bank and that was the height of our expectations or ambition. We now have a very different generation who regard entrepreneurship as natural. They have the self-confidence that goes with that. I hope the policies we are putting in place will build on that.