Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I want to say a few words about jobs in the west. It is not long since the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment was in Westport for the launch of the brochure for the town's business park. I do not think a single job has been created in that park since that date. Similar problems are being encountered throughout the country. Nobody is going into these new business parks. The Minister and his Cabinet colleagues need to listen to people on the ground. The reason jobs are leaving this country is quite simple. The Government's failure to tackle problems like inflation is affecting the way people do business in this country. If the Minister talks to people who are involved in small businesses, they will tell him they are over-regulated by the Government, the EU, local authorities and the HSE. The Government has been in place for a long time, but it has done nothing about these problems, with which it is familiar. Every time local authorities try to raise funding for themselves, they do so by imposing additional costs on businesses. The local authorities were unable to deal with the refuse service, so they handed it over to the private sector in some cases although they held onto it in other cases. Business people have told me that it costs them a small fortune to get rid of their refuse.

As matters get more difficult, people are looking at their cost bases on a day-to-day basis. For example, the Portwest facility in Westport has relocated to China. Many enterprises do not want to do business in Westport or anywhere else in this country. The Allergan plant in Westport shed 800 jobs a number of years ago and a further 1,000 jobs are being lost at the company's Arklow facility. I am worried about the future of Allergan's 800 or 900 employees in Westport. As previous speakers have said, this country is dependent on industrial jobs. While Westport has a nice balance of industry and tourism, many of its eggs are in the Allergan basket. If anything happens those jobs, it will be devastating not only for Westport but also for the surrounding areas. Something has to be done. What has the Minister, Deputy Martin, done? What has the Minister for Finance done about this country's energy costs?

I will give a simple example of the hypocritical manner in which the Government is running this country. We have had an oil crisis for the last 12 months — oil has never been so expensive — but the Government has done nothing. It could have reduced its tax take to try to keep the price of energy down and keep this country's companies competitive. Many companies in Westport and other parts of the country are reviewing their operations to see whether they should stay in Ireland or move abroad. A company that has been based in this country for many years is targeting companies to see if they can be attracted out of this country and into cheaper bases in the Middle East and other areas. What are we doing about it? We are doing nothing. We are putting more pressure on employers and businesses. We are not doing anything. We have talked about it for 20 years. The small business committee that was set up in the Dáil made recommendations to the Government, but none of them was adopted by the Government.

We stood by when the good days were good and thought this day would never come. This dangerous day has come. If current trends continue, the 187,000 people who have been unemployed since last year will continue to suffer. We thought the good days would never come to an end. I ask the Minister, Deputy Martin, to try to support small businesses, which represent the backbone of our economy. They will stay here. The big supermarkets like Tesco which have come to Ireland over the last 20 years have got rid of jobs in small businesses in every town and city. Of course they have created a few jobs, but they have also taken a lot of other jobs. Small businesses are no longer able to compete. It is time for the Minister and the Government to try to support this country's small businesses. If a company from China or Taiwan looks for grant aid, the Government and IDA Ireland will do everything they can to bring them in. They do not want to do anything for Irish companies, however, because they are Irish. It does not matter if the company is from Dublin or Mayo. It is time to change the policy.

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