Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I speak on behalf of the Labour Party which broadly supports the motion. However, some aspects of the motion are a cause of concern. I do not intend to engage in destructive argument, but I hope to be constructive in my contribution. It is important not to talk ourselves into a deeper recession than exists and we must acknowledge the strengths of the economy. We hope people will still find our economy attractive and will be willing to invest in it.

It is important we maintain the current taxation regime. I remind the Minister that it was Deputy Ruairí Quinn who negotiated the 12.5% and who left our first budget surplus in place. At the time we were creating 1,000 jobs a week. The economy was very strong when it was handed over to the Fianna Fáil regime. I read the comments made by the Minister for Finance on our taxation returns that we are €600 million out. He basically referred to all the ills that occurred in the international area and the associated risks. While issues such as credit and energy costs are relevant, it would be churlish of him and foolhardy of us not to admit that the Government has played a significant role in the current crisis. The Government cannot act like Pontius Pilate and wash its hands of responsibility for its input, particularly with regard to some of its taxation measures, both direct and indirect, which have placed significant impositions on areas of the economy and threatened their viability and existence.

In this context, ISME made a presentation to the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, where it outlined much of the red tape and bureaucracy involved with regard to the significant amount of legislation in the taxation, health and safety and industrial relations areas. There are up to 1,000 items of legislation that must be addressed and taken into account by small businesses. I know from experience what a business involving three people must address. The bureaucracy is incredible and is a significant imposition. The quicker we streamline and regularise the position and minimise the bureaucracy, the better because we are strangled by the regulations.

The Minister is correct in saying that foreign direct investment is still very important for us. We must continue to articulate this. We have an excellent third level educational base and significant fourth level expertise and we must sell this aspect on world markets to remain competitive. However, we must not forget the indigenous small industry sector. This is particularly important in the rural context.

Almost ten years ago I attended an IRD conference in Kiltimagh, Mayo, where a man spoke about the creation of six to eight jobs in the telecottaging area. That was very important at the time. The availability of broadband is very important for the creation of such jobs. We cannot over-emphasise the importance of broadband availability in terms of competitiveness and the ability to be innovative, maintain communication with the outside world and create jobs. We want to create jobs that will not just be good for the people in the local area and economy but that will contribute to sustaining the area and to the development of infrastructure in those areas.

In this regard, the roll-out of broadband was a disaster. The Government, particularly the former Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, must take full responsibility for this. Broadband roll-out was a cock-up and it is wrong to say it was not. The companies in the market gravitated towards the urban areas where there were significant profits to be made and rural areas were left to wait. There are areas in Westmeath and Longford that are crying out for broadband. People want to be able to do business from home. Home-based businesses are important and provide an added impetus to competition. We need broadband to be rolled out to the rural areas that are without it. No area should be forgotten or isolated.

Start-up industries must also be encouraged. It is important that seed capital is available for such industries to provide them with an important boost. I watched the "Late Late Show" the other night on which two young men described how they had to go to Silicon Valley to make a success of their enterprise, all for the want of €20,000. Nobody wants to see young people with the brainpower to achieve what those two young men achieved having to leave the country for encouragement.

The Minister must inform Enterprise Ireland that taxpayers do not mind contributing €20,000 or €30,000 to get more young people like this up and going. We must get the vision right. If the two young people I saw on the "Late Late Show" could make €2.5 million or €3 million from selling their business, just imagine what can be achieved. One of the young lads I saw is now going to be one of the main executives in the company which bought their business. We should take note, as should the Minister for Education and Science, that one of these young lads bypassed the traditional educational route. I am a traditionalist at heart, but we must abandon our traditional attitudes and open up. If a young lad can achieve such success without a traditional education, it opens our eyes. He is the type of young person we need and he has shown us the way forward in this context.

I was shaken by Deputy Bannon's comment that the infrastructure in Longford and Westmeath was poor. He is not very long in the Dáil, but he was a while in the Seanad. I am very proud of the infrastructure in Westmeath. There are 75 acres marked down for an IDA Ireland park. I have spoken to the executive of IDA Ireland and I am glad to be able to say that it is pressing for movement on the construction of a 25,000 sq. ft. facility, for which tenders will be in next week and which will, hopefully, be built and opened by the end of the year. I do not mind who opens anything as long as someone does.

Westmeath also has tremendous infrastructure in terms of recreational facilities and roads, for example, the N4 and N6. The Athlone Institute of Technology is probably one of the most progressive institutes of technology. I have discussed the issue of industry with the AIT and advocated the provision of an industry for Mullingar, which is particularly important in the context of the IDA Ireland park. One facility will beget another. Once we get something in one area, whether services, technology or IT, we will get more in another. Just as a number of people in Athlone lost their jobs with Nexans, Mullingar had similar job casualties with the loss of Tarkett ten years ago. This happens, but when it does, we must try to put in place replacement industries. I have made that argument to IDA Ireland which listened carefully to me. Deputy Bannon must fight for the same in Longford, his area.

I remind the Minister that we have good infrastructure, but we need joined-up thinking from Government so that it will use some of the moneys available for transport to link the gateway towns of Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar. We have the infrastructure in place and all we need is the moneys to open the routes, approximately €85 million to open the Athlone-Mullingar railway link and only €1 million to open the Killucan link, which would take people off the road and contribute to enhancement of the environment, quality of life and the reduction of carbon emissions. This would reflect joined-up thinking by Government and that is what is needed.

I strongly reject Deputy Bannon's implication that Longford-Westmeath lacks infrastructure. Our local authorities have fought hard alongside Government to put the necessary infrastructure in place. We should acknowledge that and not put on the poor mouth or béal bocht. We do not want to down-play what we have, but should go out and sell what it in a positive way.

The international crisis will affect us, but we do not know how it will play out and for how long. However, some of the current difficulties with our economy are of our own making. The main drag on the economy is the near collapse of the house building sector. The number of houses built in Ireland increased rapidly from 52,000 in 2001 to approximately 88,000 in 2006. We must remember now that for each reduction in the number of houses built, a job is lost. If we have 20,000 fewer houses, that is 20,000 fewer jobs. We have put too many eggs in the one basket, but hopefully we have learned something from that.

A national upskilling programme must be set in place quickly. We do not want theoretical barriers to that. As people lose jobs, they must not be left to stagnate, as happened in the 1980s. We want them involved in upskilling straight away. We must broaden our horizons in this regard. There must be no restrictions on the opportunity to upskill. For example, if young apprentices who are on their third or fourth study module fail an exam with FÁS, they can only repeat the exam twice. That does not happen with regard to university students, who get two or three runs at an exam. If that was the case, half the graduates that come out of universities would be excluded. One gets two or three runs at it and gets the opportunity again. Let us cut out that codology. If somebody is willing to spend four years there, let us give them the opportunity. We need upskilling straight away particularly given that there are threats to the manufacturing base. We must acknowledge that they are there and ensure that people are upskilled and trained appropriately so that they can go into other challenging areas, such as IT and services areas. This is what is going to be important and this is what the Labour Party will advocate quite strongly as we confront this crisis together because, after all, we all have a duty and obligation to ensure we work together in this area.

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