Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to consider proposals from all parties and have already taken on board some of the views expressed in the House in regard to activation measures. We are working on those proposals and we hope they will be successful, particularly in the case of the graduate placement programme. Some initial progress has already been achieved in regard to graduate placement in the public and private sectors. People who lose their jobs want to maintain and enhance their skills. An issue that has been raised repeatedly for many years is the difficulties people may encounter in obtaining employment because they have no experience. We hope these initiatives will afford experience and opportunities to people.

We are also working closely in the area of new technologies. This is parallel to the work being done by the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, on our skills needs. A new chairman has been appointed to a working group to oversee an analysis of skills needs in various sectors and to evaluate how resources should be targeted. The reality is that we must do more for less and that a targeted response is required. That is what we must strive towards.

When I was Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Penrose, as his party's spokesman, made the case that persons who are made redundant should be entitled automatically to return to education. That entitlement is now in place, as well as an entitlement to participate in the back to work enterprise allowance scheme. The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM, report indicates that some 2,800 new entrepreneurships are established every month in the State. That is as it should be. It is through small and medium-sized enterprises that we can target export potential. We are spending €500 million this year on enterprise support. However, we must take a categoric decision as to where resources are targeted. The role of education will be vital. We must encourage young people entering first year in secondary schools to take up sciences, mathematics and languages. The jobs of the future will require those skills. We will continue to strive towards that.

See this speech in context