Darragh O'Brien (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I wish to speak in support of the Government's amendment to the motion. Fine Gael's motion states that there are over 800,000 people employed in the Irish SME sector. We both agree that it is a crucial part of our economy which needs to be protected as much as possible. We might disagree on some of the detail behind that, but it is important that we are having this debate tonight because I welcome that part of the Fine Gael motion. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of NewEra, which has been binned, or of Deputy Bruton's magic bank, which has gone, but we will move on from that. Our policies in this area have been incredible.

The Government has improved financial support for over 2,000 companies under the employment subsidy scheme. That scheme maintains over 100,000 jobs in this economy. We are creating long-term sustainable jobs. The Government is supporting enterprise agencies in creating high quality sustainable jobs by attracting foreign direct investment and supporting Irish companies. In the first six months of 2010, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland made over 50 announcements, which have led to the creation of over 4,000 jobs across the country. The pipeline of new job announcements from both these State agencies is very strong between now and the end of the year.

Last year was a very difficult year for foreign direct investment across the world. FDI dropped by 30% internationally, but there was only a 4% drop in Ireland. We brought in €19 billion in new foreign direct investment, which was half of what was brought to the UK. That shows we are continuing to punch above our weight when trying to attract new jobs and investment to this country. There are two crucial reasons for this. The first is that we have reduced our labour costs significantly. Our labour costs and our competitiveness index has improved by 6% since 2005. We have seen a marked improvement in our competitiveness. It has been a shock to the system, but competitiveness and the cost of doing business in this country have dropped. We also have a low corporation tax regime and an educated, flexible workforce. We only have to see what is happening in France this week to understand why flexible workforces like our own will attract high quality jobs into this country. That is good news.

Our exports are holding up very well. The Minister of State pointed out that a major part of the recovery will be export led, because we cannot consume what we produce. Eighty per cent of what we produce is exported. Irish exports fell by 3% in 2009, whereas the international average was minus 20%. Our trade surplus is up nearly 30% to €4 billion. These are facts and figures. They show that we are on the way to recovery.

Capital investment is crucially important and we will be discussing this at length between now and the budget. If we take the €40 billion that will be spent over the next six years, it is very easy, as the Labour Party might point out - it is absent tonight for the second consecutive Private Members' motion, just like its absence on financial policies - to talk of reductions. We can get more for less with our investments. In my own constituency of Dublin North, the first flight will land at terminal two of Dublin Airport later this month. This terminal has created 900 jobs and many other spin off jobs.

I am very pleased that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation has spoken about the county enterprise boards. They do phenomenal work on the ground. Since 1993 they have created a net total of 30,000 jobs. We need to continue to support those boards. They know what is happening on the ground. My own county enterprise board in Fingal is doing a phenomenal job, and I was able to open a new enterprise centre there with over 40 companies up and running. That is the type of business environment we need. We must look at what we can create and what we can do better. I welcome the fact that we are debating this issue tonight. I thank Fine Gael for tabling the motion. Obviously, I cannot support it, but the counter motion is far more realistic.

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