Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister aware that in the five years to 2006 manufacturing employment has lost 32,000 jobs? There is a serious threat in that area. When will the manufacturing forum that the Minister announced in T16 be established? What timescale has he set to deal with the issues worrying manufacturers?

Have the Minister or his Department carried out an assessment of all the multinational companies which have invested in this country, taking into account their activity and employment levels and whether they have implemented some of their decisions about increasing activity and employment? Are they examining that situation with a view to changing their minds about some of those announcements? Notwithstanding what the Minister has said about key IDA Ireland backed firms which have come here and are welcome, there is an indication that our economy may be built on a bubble. We want to reassure people in the multinational sector and employees that we have a competitive cost base for the future, and I am not sure that is the case at the moment.

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