Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I dtosach báire, molaim Pairtí Fhine Gael as ucht an rún seo a chur síos. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go mbeidh deis again cursaí fostaíochta a bplé. I would like to praise the Fine Gael Party for putting down a very important motion. I may not agree with the terms of the motion but the question of growth in the economy and jobs is central to the issues faced by ordinary people every day.

The Government continues to focus on the issue of jobs and has made them central to its policies. The negativity and pessimism that pervades Irish society will not create a single job. Experience tells us one of the first requirements in building an economy is people believing in the future.

Significant progress has been made despite the huge challenges we face. The value of exports in July was up by 12% compared with July 2009. Service exports for the first half of this year were 8% higher than the corresponding period of 2009. These are very encouraging figures which show that our export sector is now coming back to strong growth as our economy stabilises. We expect economic growth to take hold more widely as we go into next year. Our Exchequer finances are on track. Consumer price inflation has been lower than that in the euro area for the last few years. This is contributing to competitiveness, which underpins growth and will assist future job creation.

The drop in the September live register announced yesterday is a positive outcome and is fully consistent with what I have been saying for some months, namely that the live register is stabilising. However, levels of unemployment are still very high and our overriding priority in government is to drive forward the process of economic recovery and to create new jobs and opportunities to get people back to work.

The figures published by the Central Statistics Office show that the live register September headline figure was 442,417, which is 24, 506 below the August 2010 total. The month-on-month decrease of 24,506 is the biggest fall ever recorded in any one month. The previous biggest fall in a single month was 17,307 recorded in September 2006. The live register seasonally adjusted figure was 449,600. This is a decrease of 5,400, or 1.2%, on August 2010. The year-on-year increase is dropping every week. While we are far from where we would like to be, significant continuous progress is being made. The CSO labour force survey also shows that more than 62,000 people on the live register are in part-time employment. Of course, we would like to get as many of those people as possible back to a five day week, but they are not totally disconnected from the workplace.

It has been said that the Government is concentrating on the bank issue. Of course, for the economy to flourish it is imperative that we fix our banking system, restore order to the public finances, regain our competitiveness and create jobs. We are working on a multi-faceted approach to creating jobs and stimulating growth. Under the leadership of an Taoiseach we are undertaking a number of key strategic initiatives, including the announcement on Monday of the Government's five year integrated plan for trade, tourism and investment aimed at generating 300,000 jobs and boosting exports by one third. With this initiative we are positioning Ireland to be even more successful in the sale of our goods and services, attracting more visitors to come to our island to experience our magnificent tourism offering first hand and winning further global investment. This plan will strengthen Ireland's trade links. While the US, UK and our eurozone partners will continue to be key markets for us, this plan aims to dramatically increase the number of exporting firms and diversify the destination of indigenous exports into new high-growth markets.

Our other specific measures to create jobs include the €40 billion capital investment plan launched by an Taoiseach in July. Innovation Fund Ireland, from which €500 million is available, will support enterprise development and job creation by attracting top venture capitalists to Ireland. During the next five years, €360 million will be invested in research and innovation. The latter will involve third level institutions and will help to create new jobs and enterprises and drive Ireland's economic recovery. Last week, the Government launched a new strategy to expand international student numbers dramatically.

Under the employment subsidy scheme, we are investing over €130 million to assist more than 1,600 exporting firms to keep 80,000 workers in jobs. We announced an additional €55 million investment in August to give early-stage entrepreneurs capital for their businesses. The back to work enterprise allowance aims to encourage the long-term unemployed to develop businesses, while allowing them to retain a reducing proportion of their social welfare payments. At the end of August, 6,646 people were availing of the scheme.

Some €169 million is also being provided by my Department for the back to education allowance scheme in respect of the current academic year. Practical changes to ease its qualifying conditions came in to effect from Monday, 19 July. The additional €12 million provided for the labour market activation fund, which was announced in August, will bring the total number of places supported by the fund to over 11,000 in 2010. Finally, the employer job PRSI incentive scheme is focused on creating new jobs for people who have been on the live register for six months or more.

In the context of discussing the Government amendment to the motion, I wish like to focus on the latter scheme. The employer job PRSI incentive scheme provides a direct stimulus for the real economy by reducing costs for employers and shifting the balance in favour of job creation. It is an important measure in tackling unemployment because it cuts business input costs and incentivises employers to take workers off the live register as Ireland emerges from recession and the economy begins to recover. The scheme is supporting job creation in a very practical way. It saves each employer in the region of €3,000 or more per annum with regard to the cost of employing an additional worker. It is an exemption scheme. Unlike many schemes under which grants are paid out and then recouped, savings are made immediately on the basis of the exemption because employers are not obliged to pay the PRSI to the State.

Any job created in 2010 which meets the criteria relating to the scheme can benefit from the exemption. If an employer created a new job prior to the launch of the scheme in June, he or she may still qualify for an exemption of employer's PRSI in respect of it. I am aware that Fine Gael supports this scheme. If I am correct, it suggested the establishment of the scheme at this time last year. If an employer qualifies for the exemption, it will be for 12 months from the date they are approved for the scheme.

As already stated, this measure is deliberately targeted at those who have been unemployed for six months or more. The proportion of people who return to employment after a short period out of work remains relatively high. After six months on the live register, however, there is a danger that people will drift into long-term unemployment and welfare dependency.

The Government's employment strategy is as much about creating new jobs as it is about supporting unemployed workers in order that they can re-enter the labour force as the economy improves. Our training programmes and extra places in further and higher education are reskilling the workforce to take up new jobs in growth areas of the economy. We are hugely committed to creating jobs in the competitive economy. That is the Government's first and foremost priority and it is the key focus of my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe.

One of the priorities I have been given in my Department is job activation. The various experts agree that the increase in employment will lag behind economic growth to some degree. During the period of this timelag, it is important that we should examine innovative way of giving as many people as possible the opportunity to work and provide necessary services in our communities. I have already indicated that I will be making a firm announcement in this regard in the coming weeks.

Mar a dúirt mé ag an tús, is í fadhb na dífhostaíochta an fhadhb is mó go bhfuil go leor daoine ag stracadh leí. Cruthaíonn an dífhostaíocht fadhbanna i measc an phobail ó thaobh easpa oibre, easpa ioncaim agus easpa rud le déanamh. Cruthaíonn sí fadhbanna freisin ó thaobh morgáistí. Tá an Rialtas seo dírithe ar fhostaíocht a chur ar fáil agus ar tabhairt faoin bhfadhb seo ar bhealach stuama éifeachtach.

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