Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

When I first entered politics only a few years ago I spoke to a publisher I know in the United Kingdom and asked him what he wanted from politics and politicians. He replied that what he wanted was for the Government to get out of his way. He was talking about making it easier for businesses to set up and making it cheaper to employ people so that he could go about creating jobs and creating wealth, which would naturally be distributed throughout the economy and bring the stability in our society and in our lives about which Deputy Doyle spoke. I found that very interesting.

Before the general election our party discussed the role of government when it came to job creation and how it was not the role of government to create jobs directly but to create the environment in which jobs could be created, as referred to by Deputy Martin Heydon. That is an important point. It is not the role of the Government to create jobs directly, nor is it the role of the Government to lend money. These are exceptional times and the Government is doing a host of things currently that it should not normally have to do. While the circumstances are not welcome, the solutions from the Minister are. It is for that reason this Bill is so welcome and important. This fund will do some good. It is important we move quickly with the legislation and get the fund up and running. With regard to the fund itself, it is vital that Deputies cannot be lobbied on it. Some people will take the view that because the agency is being set up, Deputies will have some influence and if those people do not get the funding they want, they expect we will be able to interfere. It is vital that any potential linkage is broken and that it is made clear that Deputies will have no role in it. We would not want political interference in what we hope will be a very good enterprise scheme.

With regard to small businesses, this fund is for companies of fewer than ten people looking to create jobs. Yesterday, I met Seán O'Sullivan from Open Ireland and we discussed a technology visa and talked in general about how Dublin and Ireland could be made the Silicon Valley of Europe. This is something in which I have been interested since my first days in politics. We are aware we have underemployment in the IT sector. The figures we have for this are approximately 2,200. However, when one speaks to anyone working in the sector, one hears the figures are quite a bit higher. The multinationals are starved of talent, but new start-up businesses setting up in Dublin cannot get talent either. There is huge competition for the developers and engineers we have, and as a result they are very expensive to employ. Consequently, small start-up businesses in the technology sector find it very difficult to get the right talent.

We have a start-up entrepreneur visa scheme and an investor visa scheme, both good measures we would like to see get off the ground. However, it is not just enough to invite an entrepreneur to come here and start a business. That person needs to be able to bring people with him to work in that business. That is the reason the proposed technology visa is so important. It would be a specific visa for people working in the technology sector, with certain criteria that would allow people come in to work in these new Irish companies or to fill vacancies in indigenous companies. Some 5,000 technology visas would create 20,000 jobs. Studies done indicate that for every one job created in the IT sector, a further four jobs are created. This is significant. Often, when people talk about the technology sector and technology jobs, they say it is specific and only applies to a certain category of people. However, it is the knock-on jobs created from those technology jobs being here that are significant.

The Taoiseach has talked repeatedly about his vision for Ireland and expects that by 2016 we will be the best small country in the world in which to do business. Those of us interested in technology and the high-tech sector, as is the Minister, are talking about making Ireland the Silicon Valley of Europe by 2012 and the best place in the world in which to start a technology business. This is an important goal and one to which we should aspire. It is for that reason the technology visa is so important. I know it is not particular to this Bill, but as we are talking about ways in which the Government can help create an environment to help businesses set up, get going and employ people, it is relevant to today's debate.

I know the Minister has been briefed on the technology visa, but I urge him to take part in any conversation or discussion he can with the Minister for Justice and Equality on this front to see that we can move to such a scheme. This would be a welcome part of the many measures the Minister is introducing in these exceptional circumstances to help tackle the unemployment crisis. This is important for all of us.

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