Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The jobs issue was part of the agreement reached last Monday at the European meeting of Heads of State and Government. There was a specific agreement that the economic situation in Europe cannot be resolved alone by budgetary and fiscal measures but that there needs to be a jobs and growth strategy. The Government was keen to have this on the agenda and for it to continue to be so. In addition to the measures agreed last Monday on youth unemployment, small and medium-sized businesses and the completion of the Single Market, it was also agreed that the jobs and growth agenda would remain on the agendas for future European summits.

With regard to the measures taken by the Government, as the Deputy knows, we intend to publish a jobs action plan. The draft of it was considered by the Government this week and it is expected to be published in a matter of weeks. Complementing that plan, there are also the labour activation measures for which the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, has responsibility. She will publish shortly the pathways to work initiatives which will set out in detail the measures the Government will take to ensure training, education, job experience, internships and so on are provided for people who are out of work.

In addition, the Government is also pursuing an investment strategy. Next week, the Taoiseach and I will attend an investment meeting convened by the former US President, Bill Clinton, in New York. When he attended the global Irish economic forum in October, he committed to convene an investment meeting mainly of people who would not normally have associations with Ireland. That meeting is due to take place next week and will be attended by both the Taoiseach and myself. Very soon there will be a visit by the vice president of China with whom we have been discussing the possibilities for expansion of trade and investment between the two countries, all of which is aimed at the generation of employment.

The approach the Government will take to the issue of youth unemployment will be contained in the pathways to work initiative which will be launched soon by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. The jobs action plan that is being considered by the Government will be published shortly. Funding for small and medium-sized enterprises was part of the agreement reached last Monday. We will continue to ensure all of the European Union instruments available to extend funding for small and medium-sized enterprises are used to the full by this country.

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