Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Has the Government distinguished between employment in the domestic economy as opposed to foreign direct investment companies? We gain on some foreign direct investment but we also lose when companies pull out or take longer than expected to mature. I welcome the Eli Lilly investment inasmuch as construction on the project will begin shortly but the permanent posts are three years away. The closure of Game yesterday followed the collapse of a number of other companies.

I understand that the number of redundancies shot up in December. Was that related to the budget decision to reduce the employer rebate? The Minister for Finance was warned about the potential impact. Apparently the redundancy rate increased significantly in December as companies sought to meet the end of year deadline for the rebate.

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