Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

We still need to deal with the fundamentals in terms of where the economy is going and what is needed from the Government. I have a few suggestions. From a national point of view, what must be our priority in the budget next week is that we do our job and look after the most vulnerable in Ireland. I am talking about homeless people, disabled people and those in low-income households. We must ensure primarily that people can keep their jobs and their basic State supports to which they are entitled and which we have a responsibility to provide. We must also prioritise expenditure to stimulate economic growth and development by increasing competitiveness. Broadband and IT is an obvious area about which I keep banging the drum. One million houses in Ireland have a computer, but only 57% of them have access to broadband. Among European countries, Ireland has the highest rate of orders over the Internet. A total of 27% of all orders made in Ireland are placed over the Internet. This happens in spite of a poor IT infrastructure which needs to be improved and developed. My city has twice the national average of unemployment. Unemployment in Cork city is now at 12% compared to a national average of 6%. We want the Government to support the big idea in my city, which is about developing a docklands project on a brownfield site, which at 166 ha is probably the biggest in Europe. Investors are lining up to get involved. In the past the Government promised tax incentives, but we have yet to see them. Next week we need to see those incentives to try to get the kind of investment in Ireland's second city needed to create the vast number of jobs that project can create in a relatively short space of time. There could be up to 20,000 jobs on that site. However, because of the silence on the tax incentives that had been promised and because of the Government's deferral of funding it promised under the gateway funds to provide access to that site via two bridges, the project is now stalled even though we have been preparing for it for the past five years.

Both local and national actions can be taken. I have not heard anything from the Government this evening that indicates new thinking or commitments to inspire confidence.

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