Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I congratulate Deputy Reilly on his election. He asked questions of me in a different context previously, when I held a different portfolio. Deputy O'Keeffe asked about competitiveness and the early warning system. We get early warnings related to specific companies.

The current commentary on manufacturing is quite positive. Following the prolonged period of slow growth in continental Europe, we have seen a growth in Irish manufacturing. It reached a low ebb in 2004 and 2005 but last year, with the emergence of more robust activity and growth elsewhere in Europe, manufacturing in this country began to recover and output grew by 5.2%. In the first quarter of this year, the recovery accelerated sharply and output was over 14% higher than a year earlier. The strengthening growth in employment in the first quarter is a further indication that the recovery is solidly based. Some economists are expressing the view that manufacturing is recovering very well and is in a very solid position overall because of a more robust European market position, which has led to increases in exports.

We get early warnings related to specific companies. If a particular company is in difficulty, agencies such as Enterprise Ireland will notify the Department. We try to work with those companies to determine whether we can salvage anything. Obviously, the communication would be confidential because the companies ——

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