Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to make some remarks on the 2011 budget, particularly its impact on Ireland's enterprise sector and the crucial innovation agenda. Yesterday's budget strikes an important balance between achieving the necessary adjustment of €6 billion in 2011 and doing so in a way that ensures that we continue to invest in our two most important objectives, which are economic growth and job creation. The budget will see €508 million in capital spending alone dedicated to driving GDP growth through increased exports, more foreign direct investments and building our smart economy credentials via significant investments into research and development.

There is a critical point that must be made here, a point I believe has been lost in some of the rhetoric following the Minister for Finance's statement yesterday. For example, the Labour Party stated that the Government has chosen a budget that will not promote economic growth and employment, and Fine Gael indicated last night that the budget fails the job creation challenge. I want to put an end to these false claims here and now.

As I stated, yesterday's budget provides capital investment of €508 million for 2011, up from €480 million in 2010 and rising again to €558 million for the following three years. That is a clear and unambiguous investment of €2.2 billion in jobs and growth made by this Government through the budget. This multi-billion euro capital investment in growth and jobs is routed through my Department and its agencies, including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the enterprise boards. That is a point missed by Members opposite, as these enterprise agencies already support 82% of all exports, some 500,000 direct and indirect jobs, or around 30% of the entire work force in the economy today.

The investment we committed to yesterday in the core programmes of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland is fundamentally important because it enables the agencies to win more global investments, grow exports and provide essential supports to help businesses improve their products and productivity. This is done for one simple reason, as it will deliver nearly 30,000 new jobs in 2011 just from the IDA and Enterprise Ireland client base alone, and 300,000 jobs altogether from the enterprise and tourism sectors, as well as food and agriculture, over the next five years.

There is a negative thread running through much of the commentary on both the budget and the four year plan for recovery. The thrust of this analysis is that Ireland is a growth taker, and that we can do nothing to stimulate GDP growth from our own endeavours as a people. I utterly reject that view. I accept that global trading conditions are important but it is equally true that the investment we make in enterprise will deliver GDP growth as well as jobs. I will outline the reasons. Ireland's GDP growth will come via export growth. The client companies of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland already provide €126 billion of the €153 billion in goods and services we export. When the Government commits €2.2 billion to the enterprise agencies we are, therefore, investing in jobs and growth and saying to the world-----

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