Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I propose to share time with Deputies Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, Maureen O'Sullivan and Pringle. Aspects of the jobs plan are welcome and I hope the target of 100,000 jobs will be exceeded, even though it is a round figure and was picked out of the air. The net increase in the number of jobs is a key issue. I welcome a number of measures and have criticisms of a number of others. There are also elements missing from this plan, one of which is the fact that the National Pensions Reserve Fund should be used if we are serious about creating a large number of jobs.

The opening section of the jobs plan relates to the economic outcomes from investment in research. The document makes reference to PhD students and a number of actions. At the moment, there is a showcase at the RDS where colleges have offerings on postgraduate courses. By comparison with last year, only a trickle of people are turning up because of Government policy of pulling the support for grants at postgraduate level. People are voting with their feet. It is one thing being aspirational but another to put the policies in place. These people can potentially create jobs at a high level.

I worry when I see reference to reducing the cost of doing business, with the first point of the plan a proposal to enact legislation to reform wage setting mechanisms. So many other factors have an impact on the cost of business, including energy, rates, upward-only rent reviews and insurance. We want high-value jobs and the focus on this concerns me.

The Legal Services Regulation Bill is being cited as reducing costs but the elaborate framework introduced in the Bill could end up costing us more than is the case at present. The Government asks local authorities to exercise restraint in setting rates for businesses but it cannot have it both ways. The Government cannot cut the budgets of local authorities and then tell them to exercise restraint on rates. That is aspirational and if it is to be more than this, the Government must do something about it. We know about Irish Water, which is a long-term proposition. We do not know how long some of the elements of this plan will take and many of them are not costed. It is welcome that there will be a quarterly review and that targets will be set. These are necessary if we are to deliver something.

Springboard is being criticised by those who look to take on people. They say that they cannot turn a plumber into an IT professional in 18 months, which may be the case. I have asked the Minister about county enterprise boards on a number of occasions. A compromise has been reached. Two Ministers will now have responsibility, one for Enterprise Ireland and one for local authorities. There are a lot of questions in regard to leases and the number of staff that will transfer across. We need to have an enterprise culture to deliver on it. The jury is very much out on that. We want to see returns very quickly.

I welcome some of the initiatives on the green economy, if the plan goes beyond being aspirational. There are great opportunities. We could be to the forefront in many initiatives. The green IFSC idea was never taken seriously by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. Developing a brand or a GM-free island would be well worth considering. I am sure we will have another opportunity to address these issues on an incremental basis.

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