Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The EU-27 average for unemployment is 6.9%. The projections made fall well below this figure, which is important. We must be careful as regards the language we use. We certainly have not thrown in the towel. The economy is robust and performing well in international terms. I have just come from the launch of Enterprise Ireland's new strategic vision for the next three years where it has set very ambitious targets for Irish-owned companies in terms of the following: new exports, the participation in research and development to develop new products and services, high-potential start-up companies and scaling up companies to grow significantly, internationalise and globalise. We are taking a very resilient, forward-looking approach to employment creation and protection, which must be achieved through innovation and investment in research and upskilling. If one looks at the national development plan, one will see within it the fundamental pillars that will underpin Irish competitiveness into the future and ensure that we can continue to compete internationally.

Deputy Varadkar correctly referred to the stunning achievements of the past number of years, although he did not use that language nor would I expect him to. Nonetheless, relative to any other country, the scale of employment growth has been very significant. In over a decade, we have gone from having 1 million people employed in the workforce to 2.1 million. Every economy evolves and goes through cyclical periods and we are going through one at the moment. However, the key issue for us is ensuring we have the right macro-economic policies to ensure we can become a centre where new products are produced and new services are conceived and delivered and that people internationally see us in that light.

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