Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

That is well and good. We had great fanfare recently when the Minister and Taoiseach launched a report indicating that 300,000 jobs - 150,000 direct and 150,000 indirect positions - would be created. I understand the BRIC economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are expected to play an important role in this regard. I do not know how many staff Enterprise Ireland and the IDA have in the BRIC countries but it is not a large number. I recently had a discussion with a senior industrialist who indicated that relevant Minister should allocate 100 staff to these countries. The individual in question, whom the Minister knows well, does not wave a flag for the Labour Party. In any event, that is the enormity of the challenge facing us because many of the new jobs we seek will have to come from the four BRIC countries. I ask the Minister to prioritise allocations to these countries to reflect the thinking in the recent Government report on job creation.

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