Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"recognises:

the increase in the number of people signing on the live register; and

that the Government have brought forward the 2009 budget by six weeks to address the effects of the dramatic downturn in the global economy;

commends the Government for:

stabilising the banking system to ensure that Irish enterprises, small, medium and large, have access to the funds necessary for their day to day operation, therefore protecting jobs and confidence in the Irish economy;

its stewardship of the economy and employment market to date, which means that Ireland meets the current challenges from a strong position with over 640,000 jobs having been created over the last 11 years and over 2.1 million in employment;

the measures it is putting in place to ensure that those who become unemployed are given effective employment services and training supports to assist their return to employment and, in particular, the increased Government focus on activation and jobs facilitation;

the retraining of those previously employed in the construction sector;

the measures being taken to help apprentices to complete their training despite the current conditions in the construction sector;

the strong successes that have been achieved in attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland;

the substantial support given to community employment schemes, which give people employment experience and assist in their return to the open labour market;

the continued training and upskilling of the workforce in line with the National Skills Strategy by various agencies including FÁS and Skillnets; and

the work of the county and city enterprise boards which have a clearly defined role as the principal deliverers of State support to the micro-enterprise sector in Ireland and which deliver targeted valuable assistance, both financial and non-financial, to business start-ups with good growth and employment potential;

and acknowledges:

that the conditions for the back to education allowance have been amended to provide immediate access to the scheme for people who are awarded statutory redundancy and have established an entitlement to a social welfare payment."

Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom cead a fháil ón Teach mo chuid ama a roinnt le mo chomhleacaí, an tAire Stáit. Molaim an rún.

I welcome this debate and, in particular, this opportunity for the Government to set out how and why it is well placed to meet the challenges that face Ireland and that face most other major western economies as a result of today's difficult global economic climate.

I begin by acknowledging the unwelcome increase in the numbers on the live register. As a small open economy, Ireland is vulnerable to the fallout from the current economic turbulence, particularly the recent and ongoing severe fluctuations on the world's stock markets. The turbulence has affected major banks and businesses across the globe, including those here at home. This day last week we introduced legislation in this House aimed at addressing the difficulties affecting our own banking sector. In my contribution to the debate, I pointed out that the importance of maintaining liquidity within the Irish banking sector was not only key to the ongoing ability of our banks to do business but also to our small, medium and large enterprises. Their ability to get and retain credit impacts directly on the ability of their businesses to survive and therefore keep their employees in a job. The decision we took in the House last week was not an easy one but it is one that has ensured we are not debating a significantly more serious set of circumstances in the House this evening. That said, our actions last week are of little comfort to any individual or family directly affected by the loss of employment or income during the past number of months. It will take further difficult decisions by this Government in the coming weeks to make secure their futures and to ensure we return to stable economic and job growth in the short to medium term. In bringing forward its budget by six weeks, the Government has made it clear that we are determined to make those necessary decisions.

During the past two decades we have witnessed an unprecedented and extraordinary economic performance in the Irish economy. This performance has seen living standards raised to a level that would have been unimaginable a generation ago. It was a period which, as at the end of the second quarter of 2008, saw an additional 600,000 people in employment, reflecting a rise of more than 40% compared to the same period ten years ago.

This has resulted in the creation of the first generation of Irish people who have experienced the opportunity to work and build a prosperous future in their own country. It has happened because this Government has embraced the opportunity of creating a confident, dynamic and highly skilled workforce capable of competing in the international economy. As a result, success has been built and sustained and today we have an economy of which we can be proud and an employment market well placed to meet and tackle the current economic challenges.

In a global knowledge-based economy we must increasingly recognise human talent and creativity as a key resource and the principal sustainable source of competitive advantage. Given the particular global turbulence-related challenges we face today, how we unlock and further expand this talent and creativity in our workplaces has become an even more crucial issue.

Against this background, I first want to turn to the measures the Government is putting in place to ensure that those who become unemployed are provided with effective employment services and training supports to help them to return to employment.

FÁS, as the national training and employment authority, provides a range of proactive job-related services, supports and programmes to assist individuals to remain in and return to the labour market. The agency also promotes workforce development by upgrading the competencies and qualifications of individuals and by providing and facilitating targeted training programmes and services to both employers and employees. FÁS is working closely with the Department of Social and Family Affairs so they can together respond quickly to the rising live register numbers. For example, FÁS, together with the local employment services provided by area-based partnerships, is currently gearing up its employment services to provide increased capacity for expected increased referrals from the live register. In addition, FÁS will provide a range of certified, short, flexible, modular programmes designed to upskill redundant workers in order that they can enhance their prospect of securing employment. A number of programmes are already in place and the frequency and range of these will be expanded over the coming months. A range of actions are also being implemented by FÁS for those affected by the construction slowdown, including focusing on providing retraining opportunities for redundant construction workers in emerging areas within the construction sector. This will include retraining in the following areas of activity — the installation of sustainable technologies, environmental activity, and compliance and regulatory work. FÁS will also assist individuals in any way it can in seeking employment abroad in construction in other EU countries.

FÁS has a specific policy in place to deal with redundancies and-or company closures. It offers a tailored approach, as early as possible, to the workers affected with a view to assisting them to access alternative employment. This applies to workers in all sectors, including construction. FÁS has a fast track redundancy notification system in place with my Department to ensure a speedy and appropriate response is provided to redundant workers. Each response is tailored on a case-by-case basis. As part of the consultation process in the case of company closures and major redundancies, FÁS establishes the scale of the redundancies, the skills profile of the employees affected, the number of years' experience of the employees, their level of education and any other information deemed relevant to the particular case in question.

In addressing the issue of redundancies, FÁS liaises with other relevant agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the city and county enterprise boards and the Department of Social and Family Affairs. It also works closely with the agencies to identify and support individuals who wish to start their own businesses. There is also active engagement with the unemployed after three months on the live register to assist them to progress towards employment, training or active labour market programmes.

I referred to the actions FÁS is carrying out in regard to retraining those formerly employed in the construction sector. We are all aware there has been a significant downturn in construction-related activity since the start of this year. The construction sector is currently undergoing a major structural change. Resulting from this structural change there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people within the construction sector who have been made redundant and also a corresponding increase in the number of apprentices being made redundant. To respond to these challenges we have instructed FÁS, as the national training and employment authority, to place a particular focus on providing support and retraining opportunities to construction workers and apprentices who have been made redundant.

A recent FÁS report while recognising that the fall in construction sector employment can be attributed to the downturn in the house-building sector also states that this fall will be partially offset by an expansion in other subsectors of the construction sector, including those such as housing repairs and maintenance, general contracting and civil engineering. Since its publication, FÁS has begun the process of implementing the report's recommendations. As part of this process FÁS, in addition to the usual supports it provides to redundant workers, has established a training fund to enable it provide a timely response to identified training-retraining needs for low skilled and redundant craft workers from the construction sector. It is intended that this will enable individuals to secure a speedy return to work or, where this cannot be secured, to provide relevant upskilling opportunities in order that job seekers can secure employment in alternative sectors. FÁS is currently focusing on providing retraining opportunities for redundant construction workers in emerging areas such as the installation of energy efficient and renewable technologies within that sector.

In regard to redundant apprentices, my Department and FÁS have been actively examining this issue and have put in place a series of actions to facilitate redundant apprentices in completing their studies. These include redundant apprentices being allowed to progress to their next off-the-job phase of training without having to do the next on-the-job phase. FÁS has also established a register of redundant workers by trade in order to identify these people at the earliest possible point in time and we have prioritised the need to locate an employer to sponsor the completion of the apprentices' off-the-job training. In addition to these initiatives the traditional employment support services provided by FÁS are available to apprentices who have been made redundant.

My Department and FÁS will continue to monitor the trends and activities in the industry and will work with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure timely and satisfactory responses to assist redundant construction workers and apprentices to secure alternative employment whether in the construction sector or another area of the economy.

Further help for those who have become distanced from the labour market for some time and who are seeking to re-enter it is provided by the community employment scheme, CE. CE is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a fixed-term basis. The programme helps unemployed people to progress to the open labour market by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine and assists them in developing both their technical and personal skills.

The Government is investing €377 million this year in CE with a view to maintaining overall numbers on FÁS schemes at 2007 levels. There are currently 22,400 people employed on CE schemes nationally. In delivering these places, FÁS operates flexibly in the management of this allocation in order to maximise progression to the labour market, while also facilitating the support of community services.

I will now deal with the importance of skills and human capital development for our competitiveness. The continuing development of Ireland's education and training systems will be key to maintaining and sustaining our economic success. That success is, now more than ever, dependent on our continued ability to produce individuals who possess the necessary skills and qualifications to succeed in this era of change.

We must ensure that our education and training systems continue to harness the collective skills and talents of our workforce. We must ensure that our systems meet the changing needs of our society from an economic and social perspective. In short, we must continue to invest in the development of our greatest asset, namely, our people. It is of paramount importance to continue to focus attention on developing the skills of our population in order that members of the labour force can consistently adapt and upgrade their skills to meet emerging opportunities and challenges.

We must encourage greater participation in lifelong learning by facilitating and motivating people to increase their skill levels and qualifications. It is no longer the case that learning should be seen as something that is complete once a person finishes his or her initial formal education. We must all look to continue our skills development throughout our working lives. Lifelong learning is key to our continued success. It is also vital in ensuring that we remain one of the world's leading knowledge economies. That is why the Government is committed in the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, the national development plan and, more recently, the national skills strategy to continue to invest significantly in the development of the workforce.

The continued support and enhancement of measures to increase the number of people who are upskilling and participating in lifelong learning will be essential if we are to realise the vision contained in the national skills strategy. The Government, through the training programmes run by FÁS and Skillnets, is committed to investing in lifelong learning opportunities for the workforce. In order to be truly effective, however, this will require a similar commitment from the social partners and individuals. If we are to succeed, we must all fully embrace the opportunities and challenges that lifelong learning presents to us individually and, collectively, as a nation.

Despite current global turbulence, we nonetheless remain determined to further develop the country's economy and create the right conditions for fostering growth in the business sector. We must not lose sight of the fact that we must ensure the continued development of our enterprise sector even in these challenging times. On a macro level, Enterprise Ireland, at the direction of the Government, is committed to the development of world-class Irish companies so that they achieve strong positions in global markets. The agency works effectively with both manufacturing and internationally-trading services companies and provides a variety of financial and non-financial supports to enable their development and growth in international markets.

There is no doubt that future prosperity will be founded on the development and growth of Irish-owned companies. This vision can be realised if the challenges faced by Irish enterprise are met head on. In that context, the development of the strength and depth of our indigenous sector will be critical if we are to return to the levels of prosperity achieved in recent years. We will need to foster the emergence of significant numbers of new indigenous businesses that have the potential to achieve significant growth, are highly innovative, embrace and develop new technologies, are export driven and, above all else, are productive and sustainable. We will only be able to foster the emergence of such enterprises if the operating environment for business, particularly smaller concerns, is supportive. This will continue to be a key focus of Government policy.

The Government has put in place policies and programmes that encourage the emergence of new business creations and facilitate long-term business survival. Examples of the actions we have taken include the positioning of our tax system as one of the most supportive of business in the world; the development of Ireland as a knowledge-based economy through the dedication of significant Exchequer resources to the promotion of research and development; the introduction of the better regulation programme to tackle regulatory burdens, particularly those faced by the business community; and the adoption of new strategies to support the enterprise sector — including small businesses — based on the reports of the enterprise strategy group and the Small Business Forum.

The level of entrepreneurship in Ireland is strong. The 2007 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report for Ireland shows that the number of entrepreneurs in Ireland increased during the past year to the extent that 2,700 individuals were setting up new businesses each month throughout the country. Some 1,000 of these were women. If, however, we are to build a much greater number of competitive and innovative companies, then many new businesses will have to be created in the coming years. The challenge is not only to generate a high level of new businesses being started but also to maximise the number of innovative businesses among them that subsequently develop to achieve high growth. The education and training sector will play a critical role in developing entrepreneurial mindsets and in equipping current and future entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to successfully strategically position new enterprises and then manage their subsequent development and growth.

The SME sector is making an important contribution to our economic prosperity, with over 250,000 small businesses employing approximately 800,000 people in operation here. The county and city enterprise boards have a clearly defined role as the principal deliverers of State support to the micro-enterprise sector. As a result of their strong regional presence, they have been to the forefront of Ireland's recent economic success and are now well placed to help micro-enterprises deal with challenging economic circumstances. The enterprise boards have an excellent track record in tapping into local entrepreneurial potential and their focus has increasingly been on the development of sustainable growth-orientated local enterprise, which can deliver high quality job creation without displacement or dead weight. The current parameters within which the enterprise boards operate enable them to deliver valuable assistance to business start-ups, with good growth and employment potential.

The work of the Government, though IDA Ireland, in fostering the growth and development of business in this country is also core to the continuing development of the economy, particularly during these difficult times. The level of foreign direct investment, FDI, in Ireland, relative to the size of the economy, is one of the highest in the world. When measuring FDI job creation relative to population size, Ireland is ranked in the top three locations. At present, the FDI sector here comprises approximately 1,000 companies which employ 136,000 people directly, with a substantial multiple in indirect employment.

The quality of investments from global companies into Ireland is of the highest standard, reflecting the remarkable evolution of the business ecosystem in Ireland as international competition and economic conditions here have developed. In the past year, Google, Cisco,GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo and Georgia Tech invested here. In recent days, and despite ongoing global economic turbulence, such prestigious international names as Cook Medical and Facebook have invested in Ireland. This is clear evidence of evolution to which I refer. Some 114 new investments were won in 2007, which was an excellent result.

In keeping with a cohesive national strategy of collaboration among all stakeholders, we continue the economic transformation of Ireland into a leading 21st century knowledge economy and we look forward to securing new projects, investments, research and development operations and some broader research collaborations again in 2008 and beyond. The focus of the transformation must shift from pure employment numbers to take account of the job scope and value added to the economy.

We are now winning higher value-added FDI in new and emerging business areas such as Internet and media business. We are also targeting the high-growth clean-tech sector and have established a dedicated team to drive this initiative.

I am running out of time.

See this speech in context