Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

With respect, I am addressing the Taoiseach. Will an accelerated jobs strategy be placed before the European Council when it next meets? What special measures for this country will be undertaken? Will the Taoiseach avail of the opportunity to raise the European Commission's approval of the Polish Government's decision to allocate €54.5 million in an aid package to Dell to assist its relocation of 1,900 jobs from Limerick to Poland? Has the Taoiseach noted what was stated by the European Commission when announcing its decision on 23 September? It stated that the Polish Government's aid package to Dell was acceptable because of its "contribution to regional development and job creation in a disadvantaged [area]". Does the Taoiseach agree it is a scandal that the European Union should be encouraging a giant multinational to take 1,900 desperately needed jobs from one of the most economically deprived regions of one member state and relocate them to another member state, albeit in an equally deprived region? Does he agree that, put simply, this defies logic and understanding? What kind of perverted jobs strategy does this represent?

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