Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I tabled this question to discover the Tánaiste's attitude to the decline now evident over a number of years in industrial employment. It is a very important issue, and I am taken aback by the apparent complacency the Tánaiste has shown. Does the Tánaiste accept that the proportion of people in industrial employment here will continue to decline? Does that ring alarm bells with her? Will she accept that industrial employment is a bedrock that spins off service jobs, and that if we continue to erode our industrial employment base, this will have critical impact across the entire economy? Will she accept that as The Irish Times indicated in an analysis done at the end of last year, one of the consequences is a reduction in the average earnings per hour towards the end of last year? The analysis showed that average earnings per hour fell by 0.7% over the final quarter of last year, and average weekly earnings fell by 0.2% over the same period.

Many of the service jobs now being vaunted are in the lower wage category. It reminds me of a comment made in the United States to the effect that thousands of additional jobs had been created, and the respondent agreed, saying he had three of them — "because I need three to survive".

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