Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

The answer was not blasé. One must look at the matter in the context of what we have achieved in recent years, particularly in view of the fact that there are more than 2.1 million persons working in the Republic. Certainly, the forecast is that there will be change, particularly in the construction industry. FÁS has been very involved in early intervention in assessing skill shortages for people who may be let off, where they can go and where they can be retrained. FÁS is compiling statistics on a regular basis to ensure that it knows exactly the people who are unemployed and whether there can be job placements and if job placements cannot be found immediately, that there are training and retraining programmes. FÁS has been forceful in that regard. I commend FÁS and I want to ensure that it continues such efforts.

In the national development plan there is a commitment that the national skills strategy is a fundamental plank in ensuring that we remain competitive and that we have a highly mobile, flexible, educated workforce. We will continue to fund this and ensure that in the national development plan it is given priority. Those are the two areas, early intervention from FÁS and the national skills strategy.

In the context of what we are trying to do in bringing forward investment, the position is we are remaining competitive. We have a low corporation tax. IDA Ireland is actively promoting Ireland as a place to do business and we continually market this country as having a highly educated, mobile workforce and a strong economy.

All the indicators show that, while there are challenges ahead, the fundamentals of the economy are sound compared with those of the previous generation that faced problems in the 1980s. The Government is committed in ensuring that we run a solid economy. The Government is very much in charge. That is evident in the context of what we are doing in the national development plan.

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