Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

-----aimed particularly at potential investors from the United States. All of that, in additional to the measures I spoke about earlier, is aimed at encouraging investment in this country and the creation of jobs. The reality is that we have a very high level of unemployment. Everybody knows that. We must try to get that level of unemployment down. The only way we can do that is by the creation of employment and the way we are doing that is, first, by encouraging additional inward investment into this country through restoring the country's reputation and, second, using the assets available to us, including the semi-State companies which need to be reorganised and harnessed in a different way from has been the case in the past to ensure that the combined strengths and talents of the staff and all of those involved in the semi-State companies, and the National Treasury Management Agency, can be brought together to increase investment, increase the number of jobs created and get economic progress in this country.

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