Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The Deputy has raised a number of points. As I pointed out in my reply - I am sorry but perhaps I glossed over it - there is no reliable data on gross job creation in the economy. The CSO did a once-off study, which is worth looking at, where it estimated that in 2010, gross job creation was approximately 12%. I suppose that would be equivalent to a little over 200,000 jobs in that year. There is much job creation that is not captured by the agency work. No one has accurate projections in that area. What we are working on are the areas of policy which we control and the potential impact. Our ambition is to grow employment - that is central - not only gross, but to see more people net at work.

The Deputy raised issues as to how one introduces sanctions. Performance accountability will be a key feature throughout the public service and it will influence not only individual careers and promotional opportunities, but the allocation of budgets. It is also simply reputation. People in the public service want to be seen to be delivering good quality performance against best practice. The public servants I work with are up for that challenge. This is about setting benchmarks and recognising success when it comes. That is what we are seeking to do.

There is a huge energy across the agencies involved to deliver this and I believe we will deliver it. It is about people's reputation and their commitment to achieve things for the country. That is a big part of this and it is important that, from the Taoiseach down, the delivery is monitored, people are recognised for success and questions are asked about disappointment, and that it has impacts for other things like budgets and performance indicators which are applied to staff and everything else.

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