Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"recognises:

— the difficulties faced by many individuals and families as a result of job losses in the current economic climate;

— the need to continue to take concerted action to reduce the unemployment rate of 14.2%, which is a legacy of the incorrect policies pursued over the last number of years by previous Governments; and

— that, notwithstanding recent improvements in the competitiveness of the Irish economy, further measures need to be taken to support economic recovery;

commends the Government for:

— the strong and decisive actions and policies which are designed to restore sustainable economic growth and job creation capacity to the economy as soon as possible;

— the measures announced in the Jobs Initiative to stimulate the domestic economy,including the reduction in the lower rate of VAT, the halving of PRSI on jobs paying up to €356 per week and investment in labour intensive local capital projects such as school works, investment in local and regional roads and home energy efficiency;

— the further measures taken in the Jobs Initiative to provide an additional 20,900 places in training, education and work experience programmes;

— the creation of the National Internship Scheme, 'JobBridge', which is aimed at providing work experience and training in enterprises for people who have been on the Live Register for 3 months or more and the success of the scheme to date, which has placed over 1,400 interns since 1st July of this year;

— the importance of continuing policies to support our enterprise culture to provide investors with confidence, encourage growth in the economy and promote further foreign direct investment and the growth of indigenous businesses;

— the work underway within Government in relation to increasing access to credit for viable businesses, in particular through the recapitalisation of the banks, the development of a partial credit guarantee scheme and the establishment of a microfinance fund for start-up businesses;

— implementing policies to stimulate the development of new business and facilitate the retention of jobs and expansion of existing companies through the ongoing work of the enterprise agencies;

— the stronger focus on strategies to promote exports and assist Irish based businesses to compete on global markets;

— its support for the development of a more dynamic venture capital industry through the implementation of Innovation Fund Ireland; and

— pursuing policies to ensure restoration of overall economic competitiveness, including through the commitment to legislate to end upward-only rent reviews for existing business leases, reforming the Joint Labour Committees (JLC) system of wage settlement, to legislate to tackle legal costs, and to implement the findings of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group;

notes the continuing impact of these policies reflected in:

— strong export performance and our highest ever trade surplus;

— the creation of new jobs in companies such as Twitter, Bioware Studio, Coca Cola, Arvato and others; and

— increased tourist activity; and

encourages the Government to continue to develop the employment strategies as outlined in the Programme for Government.".

I wish to share time with Deputies Olivia Mitchell, Gerald Nash, Paudie Coffey and Jim Daly.

See this speech in context