Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his reply. The key question is how, if additional jobs are created, as we all hope they will be, one separates whether the additional employment created is directly as a result of the initiatives in this Bill or whether it is attributed to a general economic upturn, which we hope manifests itself here and throughout Europe this year and into next year. One can point to the monthly live register figures and to the quarterly national household survey published by the CSO but that does not provide quality information as to the impact of the measures we are implementing. The Minister said on Second Stage he would reassess the impact of the VAT reduction at the end of 2012 in the context of 2013. The question is how the impact will be measured. The Minister might point to additional jobs being created but we will not know to what extent their creation is directly attributable to the measures in this Bill.

What response did the Government receive from leading employers? I understand it was the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, who wrote to put the question directly to such employers as to how many jobs they expected would be created as a result of the initiatives that were announced, and that the employers were to return that information by the end of April. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, might give us an indication in that regard, if he is not in a position to accept the amendment.

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