Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

No, because there are aspects of the Labour Party with which I do not agree. It is not looking after ordinary people. I fully agree with the Deputy in that regard. I will stand over my record of over 30 years in this respect.

As I stated, growth is the key. When we consider growth and attempt to create jobs, we must realise there are a number of basic requirements other than grants and other instruments. The first is that foreign investors must believe we have sustainable and stable growth. It is imperative that we get the message across that we do not intend to change the rate of corporation tax. This country has been very successful, over very many years, in attracting foreign direct investment, and we need to continue to do be so.

The second area of growth is within indigenous industry. In recent years, despite the difficulties with the sterling exchange, which were a great impediment to our indigenous industries, we have seen considerable resilience in the agriculture, forestry and marine industries. We must continue to support these industries and encourage native entrepreneurship. One of the great advantages of these industries is that they provide employment of good quality in every corner of the country. We have not exploited fully the potential to upskill and improve the quality of products in these industries. There is a lot of work we can do in this regard although much good work has been done in recent years.

Another industry with potential is the tourism industry.

See this speech in context