Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I said plainly in my reply to Deputy Murphy's question that the Government's objective is to put the country back on the road to economic recovery and full employment. I recognise that this ambition will not be realised in the short term, but I agree with the Deputy that we need to set ourselves ambitious targets. We should aim to get back to having 2 million people at work and being in the top five in terms of competitiveness. The Taoiseach has said, repeatedly, that we should be the best small country in which to do business by 2016.

We need ambitious targets that drive policy development. I hope the jobs strategy will have such ambitious targets and will sustain momentum over a long period of years. We will not simply produce a document and forget about it.

See this speech in context