Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

That is a huge number. Unfortunately 49,300 odd jobs were lost. That reflects the churn in the economy. Fortunately, over the past decade we have been in the strong position where we created many jobs in services and the indigenous sector improved. We have had record job creation figures of 80,000 last year and 90,000 the previous year. We have created more jobs than we have lost.

In terms of the future, the 2007 business environment ranking of the economist intelligence unit ranked Ireland in tenth place globally out of 82 countries, naming it as one of the most attractive business locations in the world. Once we continue to get that type of international recognition, in terms of the attractiveness of Ireland as a location, notwithstanding the significant global competition in terms of wage costs, emerging markets and emerging economies, we are confident we can continue to secure significant investments. If one looks at the last month alone, we have had good quality investments from Zimmer in Shannon to Citco in Cork and Vistakon in Limerick, all high value.

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