Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

The Minister is now telling us to believe that, as a result of this plan, 250,000 jobs gross will be created by 2016. Unfortunately, that is the third figure we have got because I think he said 200,000 previously. More important, a Minister of State in a different Department, Deputy Cannon, said on "Prime Time" recently - I do not have the date but I can get it for the Minister - that it would require the creation of 350,000 jobs gross, so where are we?

I wish to ask the Minister a few specific questions. Approximately how many people does he envisage being on the unemployment register by 2016 when this particular plan comes to an end? What is being presented as different about this plan is the regular policing, the quarterly reports. What sanctions does the Minister have in mind for people who are not performing as expected because we are not only talking about Departments, which must all perform in regard to some subjects, but about organisations such as Enterprise Ireland, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Forfás, the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport, the company law review group, Fáilte Ireland, research funders and the prioritisation action group? What possible sanctions can be applied to those people? How could the Minister even imagine that the company law review group or all Departments would be embarrassed if some action that was supposed to be done within a certain period of time was not done?

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