Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I am disappointed by the negativity of this motion. There is nothing positive in it with no concrete solutions offered. My disappointment is compounded by the fact the members of the Technical Group who tabled this motion were conspicuous by their absence in the Chamber last night. What we, and our young people who are thinking of emigrating, need is a bit of positivity. We have a responsibility to give them hope. We can do this with creative thinking and real solutions. The Government inherited an unemployment rate of approximately 14%. A drop in Ireland's competitiveness from fourth to 24th in the world presented a serious challenge to the new Government when it took office, but it has already showed its mettle in the fight against unemployment by introducing real solutions. The twin policies of cutting VAT rates and employers' PRSI were widely welcomed in the context of job creation. The tangible effect of our abolition of the joint labour committee employment regulation orders was the creation of 490 jobs in just two months. We introduced the visa waiver programme, which was intended to boost tourism to provide a jobs boost. I highly commend the plans to develop a micro-finance start-up fund that will provide start-up and expansion loans to micro-enterprise. I also commend the plans to ensure open public procurement for small to medium-sized enterprises, SMEs.

The big news this week that Twitter is to establish an international office in Dublin shows a renewed international confidence in our economy and the Government's policies. This is the kind of creative thinking sorely missing in the motion.

I recently attended events at the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire chambers of commerce and the Dún Laoghaire Businesses Association. Organisations like these are out there doing their very best. They should be recognised and deserve all the support we can give. Let us stop the whinging.

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