Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I apologise to Opposition Members because my time is limited and I would like to respond. Since July, some 1,400 people have signed up to the jobs initiative and the national internship scheme. It will not be a panacea for all our ills but it is making incremental progress. That is how the Government will proceed. We will not have a great leap forward within the next thee or four months because we must still address a deficit issue which has been acknowledged by all sides of the House. There will be differences over the manner in which we continue to address the deficit, but we still have that restraint in terms of our public finances which hampers one's ability to concentrate solely on stimulus. It will be a mix of stimulus and retrenchment, which is the reality of the situation. I will not blame past Governments but will rather look forward to our FDI and strong export sector.

My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, will soon be receiving the first draft report of the small business advisory group. He announced today that county enterprise boards will get another €3.1 million. These are all initiatives which locally and nationally will create the type of stimulus we need.

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