Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

The arts sector has great employment potential. I attended the Irish Film and Television Awards dinner last Saturday night and noted the Irish film industry is enjoying a relatively successful period. It is an example of an area with considerable employment potential.

Without repeating what I said this morning when I was given extra time by the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I must state that getting the fundamentals of our economy right, including by correcting our public finances, will, as in the late 1980s, play a crucial role in improving prospects for recovery and, some time later, for employment.

An essential incentive involves maintaining a low rate of corporation tax. This depends on maintaining economic viability and independence. This is within the EU and euro zone framework and has been the thrust of Government policy in the past 18 months or more. Apart from a rise in demand abroad, cost competitiveness, lower costs and a correction in our competitiveness will do a great deal for employment.

Increasingly, I find myself in agreement with a former leader of Fine Gael, Mr. Alan Dukes, who writes regularly in the public print media, including the Irish Farmers' Journal. He has a relatively hard-boiled attitude to economic issues but speaks much sense. Reference is constantly made to the Fine Gael "NewERA" document, which is an excellent policy discussion document. However, I do not believe it describes what a Fine Gael-led Government would do in office.

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