Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Private Members' motion on behalf of the Technical Group. It is a worthwhile and timely motion, coming against a background where we are rapidly approaching 500,000 people unemployed, with companies like TalkTalk moving abroad to low cost economies, doing what multinationals do, spending time here before moving on to where they can make even more profit.

We will probably be accused during the debate on the motion of not coming up with ideas or proposals for how we can create jobs. I will use my time tonight to give three examples that can make significant change and could be policies the Government could pursue at very little cost and that would create confidence in the economy and perhaps encourage people to create jobs, shrinking the dole queues instead of growing them. There is no doubt that the current path, where we insist on paying back unguaranteed bondholders and doing what the EU-IMF tells us, will lead to longer dole queues.

We should encourage people to set up businesses and work on their own. I come from a region in the north west where one in five people at work is self-employed. During the election and since, we have all met with self-employed people who now have no work but are not entitled to any benefits under the social welfare system. The Government should change the PRSI regulations to allow self-employed workers to pay an extra PRSI contribution that would eventually entitle them to jobseeker's benefit if they end up unemployed. This would be a compulsory measure and would be self-financing because there would be a lead in time before people are entitled to benefit. Ordinary PAYE workers must have 52 contributions in the previous two years before they are entitled to any benefit. The self-employed who pay into this system would take time to accrue the benefit and if they then needed the benefit, it would be self-financing or, at most, at a very low cost to the Exchequer. The self-employed already pay a contribution but it should be doubled from 3% to 5% or 6% and made compulsory. There is already a voluntary scheme in place for the self-employed to pay extra contribution, but very few avail of it. When things are going well people do not think something will go wrong and they will need something to fall back on. By changing the PRSI contribution system, we could create a limited safety net for those who take the step to create a job for themselves. We could also put in a place a system where those self-employed who employ more people could pay a reduced personal rate, encouraging them to take people on and leading to employment growth. That system would go a long way to creating confidence and boosting small businesses, reducing the dole queues and stimulating the economy.

A study entitled "Creative Edge" was carried out by the Western Development Commission, looking at the seven north-western counties, including Donegal. It has shown that by helping creative companies in the north-west region to export their services and products, 17,000 jobs could be created. All it takes is for Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and the other State agencies to work with those companies to show them how to export their services. This scheme would not need internship programmes where people provide free labour; it would simply show these companies how to develop their businesses, creating 17,000 jobs in the north west alone, not to mention the impact such a scheme would have on a country-wide basis.

We could also develop a wood for energy and home heating industry. Already people are working in this area and we have all the necessary natural resources. We do not need subsidies, we simply need to show people this can be done. Projects are already under way that demonstrate how this can be developed. The Western Development Commission has estimated upwards of 1,000 jobs could be created in the western region by developing supply chains and the industry. It would also have the added benefit of offsetting imports of home heating oil. We import €1 billion worth of home heating oil but we produce five times more wood and biomass than we would need to heat the entire country. By expanding this area we would develop an indigenous industry, improve the balance of payments and move away from oil dependency while creating more jobs.

Some of these ideas would provide stimulus for the economy, producing jobs at very little cost, with no need for fanfare about internship programmes or fancy announcements about 100 jobs here or there. Instead, in every community across the State we would create five or six new jobs, providing a boost to the economy throughout the country. I ask the Minister to take these ideas on board and bring them to fruition. He has the ability and the tools to do it and it would be to all our benefit.

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